Mississippi Power & Light Co. v. Mississippi Ex Rel. Moore, Attorney General of Mississippi, et al.

Decided June 24, 1988. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-1970 · 487 U.S. 354 (1988) · Cited 247 times

Holding

The FERC proceedings pre-empted a prudence inquiry by the MPSC.

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 6–3.

“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.

• Nantahala Power & Light Co. v. Thornburg · 476 U.S. 953 (1986)
• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Schor · 478 U.S. 833 (1986)
• Peralta v. Heights Medical Center, Inc. · 485 U.S. 80 (1988)
• Japan Whaling Ass'n v. American Cetacean Society · 478 U.S. 221 (1986)
• Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Crisp · 467 U.S. 691 (1984)
• Chemical Manufacturers Ass'n v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 470 U.S. 116 (1985)
• National Labor Relations Board v. City Disposal Systems, Inc. · 465 U.S. 822 (1984)
• City of New York v. Federal Communications Commission · 486 U.S. 57 (1988)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Cardoza-Fonseca · 480 U.S. 421 (1987)
• Addington v. Texas · 441 U.S. 418 (1979)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• Kulko v. Superior Court of Cal., City and County of San Francisco · 436 U.S. 84 (1978)
• Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn · 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
• K Mart Corp. v. Cartier, Inc. · 486 U.S. 281 (1988)
• Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. v. Northwestern Public Service Co. · 341 U.S. 246 (1951)
• Chicago & North Western Transportation Co. v. Kalo Brick & Tile Co. · 450 U.S. 311 (1981)
• Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. v. Arkansas Public Service Commission · 461 U.S. 375 (1983)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Bunte Bros. · 312 U.S. 349 (1941)
• Federal Power Commission v. Southern California Edison Co. · 376 U.S. 205 (1964)
• CBS, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 453 U.S. 367 (1981)

Cited by

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

• Oneok, Inc. v. Learjet, Inc. · 575 U.S. 373 (2015)
• Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n v. Elec. Power Supply Ass'n · 577 U.S. 260 (2016)
• New Orleans Public Service, Inc. v. Council of City of New Orleans · 491 U.S. 350 (1989)
• City of Arlington v. Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n · 569 U.S. 290 (2013)
• Dole v. United Steelworkers · 494 U.S. 26 (1990)
• California Dental Ass'n v. Federal Trade Commission · 526 U.S. 756 (1999)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1988). 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).