Federal Trade Commission et al. v. Standard Oil Company of California

Decided December 15, 1980. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-900 · 449 U.S. 232 (1980) · Cited 790 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 8–0.

“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.

• Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · 387 U.S. 136 (1967)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Weinberger v. Salfi · 422 U.S. 749 (1975)
• McKart v. United States · 395 U.S. 185 (1969)
• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. United States · 316 U.S. 407 (1942)
• McGee v. United States · 402 U.S. 479 (1971)
• Chicago & Southern Air Lines, Inc. v. Waterman Steamship Corp. · 333 U.S. 103 (1948)
• Dunlop v. Bachowski · 421 U.S. 560 (1975)
• Ewing v. Mytinger & Casselberry, Inc. · 339 U.S. 594 (1950)
• Renegotiation Board v. Bannercraft Clothing Co. · 415 U.S. 1 (1974)
• United States v. Storer Broadcasting Co. · 351 U.S. 192 (1956)
• MacAuley v. Waterman Steamship Corp. · 327 U.S. 540 (1946)
• Petroleum Exploration, Inc. v. Public Service Commission · 304 U.S. 209 (1938)
• Frozen Food Express v. United States · 351 U.S. 40 (1956)

Cited by

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

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Shell Oil Co. · 466 U.S. 54 (1984)
• Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. FTC · 598 U.S. 175 (2023)
• Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City · 473 U.S. 172 (1985)
• Whitman v. American Trucking Assns., Inc. · 531 U.S. 457 (2001)
• Ohio Forestry Assn., Inc. v. Sierra Club · 523 U.S. 726 (1998)
• Bell v. New Jersey · 461 U.S. 773 (1983)
• Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski · 599 U.S. 736 (2023)

Official text

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

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Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).