Federal Communications Commission v. Rca Communications, Inc.

Decided June 8, 1953. Felix Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 567 · 346 U.S. 86 (1953) · Cited 216 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–1.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Assn. · 166 U.S. 290 (1897)
• National Broadcasting Co. v. United States · 319 U.S. 190 (1943)
• Far East Conference v. United States · 342 U.S. 570 (1952)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Pottsville Broadcasting Co. · 309 U.S. 134 (1940)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Seven-Up Bottling Co. of Miami, Inc. · 344 U.S. 344 (1953)
• Federal Radio Comm'n v. Nelson Brothers Bond & Mortgage Co. (Station WIBO) · 289 U.S. 266 (1933)
• McLean Trucking Co. v. United States · 321 U.S. 67 (1944)
• New York Central Securities Corporation v. United States · 287 U.S. 12 (1932)
• United States v. Joint Traffic Assn. · 171 U.S. 505 (1898)
• Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. · 270 U.S. 266 (1926)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• McGautha v. California · 402 U.S. 183 (1971)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• Burlington Truck Lines, Inc. v. United States · 371 U.S. 156 (1962)
• United States v. Philadelphia National Bank · 374 U.S. 321 (1963)
• United States v. Robel · 389 U.S. 258 (1967)
• Federal Communications Commission v. National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting · 436 U.S. 775 (1978)
• United States v. Radio Corp. of America · 358 U.S. 334 (1959)
• California v. Federal Power Commission · 369 U.S. 482 (1962)
• Gulf States Utilities Co. v. Federal Power Commission · 411 U.S. 747 (1973)
• Texas Gas Transmission Corp. v. Shell Oil Co. · 363 U.S. 263 (1960)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).