Northwest Wholesale Stationers, Inc. v. Pacific Stationery & Printing Co.

Decided June 11, 1985. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 83-1368 · 472 U.S. 284 (1985) · Cited 435 times

Holding

Petitioner's expulsion of respondent does not fall within the category of activity that is conclusively presumed to be anticompetitive so as to mandate per se invalidation under 1 of the Sherman Act as a group boycott or concerted refusal to deal.

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 7–0.

“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.

• Silver v. New York Stock Exchange · 373 U.S. 341 (1963)
• National Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma · 468 U.S. 85 (1984)
• Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. · 441 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Associated Press v. United States · 326 U.S. 1 (1945)
• Northern Pacific Railway Co. v. United States · 356 U.S. 1 (1958)
• Fashion Originators' Guild of America, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission · 312 U.S. 457 (1941)
• Radiant Burners, Inc. v. Peoples Gas Light & Coke Co. · 364 U.S. 656 (1961)
• Jefferson Parish Hospital District No. 2 v. Hyde · 466 U.S. 2 (1984)
• United States v. Topco Associates, Inc. · 405 U.S. 596 (1972)
• White Motor Co. v. United States · 372 U.S. 253 (1963)
• Arizona v. Maricopa County Medical Society · 457 U.S. 332 (1982)
• United States v. General Motors Corp. · 384 U.S. 127 (1966)
• St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Barry · 438 U.S. 531 (1978)

Cited by

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

• Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. · 551 U.S. 877 (2007)
• Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. · 473 U.S. 614 (1985)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Indiana Federation of Dentists · 476 U.S. 447 (1986)
• Business Electronics Corp. v. Sharp Electronics Corp. · 485 U.S. 717 (1988)
• Nynex Corp. v. Discon, Inc. · 525 U.S. 128 (1998)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Superior Court Trial Lawyers Ass'n · 493 U.S. 411 (1990)

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).