Florida Power & Light Co. v. Lorion, Dba Center for Nuclear Responsibility, et al.

Decided March 20, 1985. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 83-703 · 470 U.S. 729 (1985) · Cited 1,823 times

Holding

Section 2239 vests in the courts of appeals initial subject-matter jurisdiction over Commission orders denying citizen petitions made pursuant to Commission rules.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 8–1.

“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.

• Camp v. Pitts · 411 U.S. 138 (1973)
• Dunlop v. Bachowski · 421 U.S. 560 (1975)
• Foti v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 375 U.S. 217 (1963)
• Harrison v. PPG Industries, Inc. · 446 U.S. 578 (1980)
• Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · 401 U.S. 402 (1971)
• Butz v. Economou · 438 U.S. 478 (1978)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. · 421 U.S. 132 (1975)
• United States v. Batchelder · 442 U.S. 114 (1979)
• Reiter v. Sonotone Corp. · 442 U.S. 330 (1979)
• Park 'N Fly, Inc. v. Dollar Park & Fly, Inc. · 469 U.S. 189 (1985)
• Federal Communications Commission v. ITT World Communications, Inc. · 466 U.S. 463 (1984)
• Southern Railway Co. v. Seaboard Allied Milling Corp. · 442 U.S. 444 (1979)
• Moog Industries, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission · 355 U.S. 411 (1958)

Cited by

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

• Department of Commerce v. New York · 588 U.S. 752 (2019)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Ventura · 537 U.S. 12 (2002)
• Calcutt v. FDIC · 598 U.S. 623 (2023)
• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. LTV Corp. · 496 U.S. 633 (1990)
• Central Intelligence Agency v. Sims · 471 U.S. 159 (1985)
• Gonzales v. Thomas · 547 U.S. 183 (2006)
• Negusie v. Holder · 555 U.S. 511 (2009)
• Federal Deposit Insurance v. Philadelphia Gear Corp. · 476 U.S. 426 (1986)
• Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. FTC · 598 U.S. 175 (2023)
• FDA v. Wages and White Lion Investments, LLC · 604 U.S. 542 (2025)

Official text

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

Explore from here

William Joseph Brennan Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1985). 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).