Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Commission of California et al.

Decided February 25, 1986. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-1044 · 475 U.S. 1 (1986) · Cited 408 times

Holding

The Commission's decision must be vacated.

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

“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.

• Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo · 418 U.S. 241 (1974)
• PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins · 447 U.S. 74 (1980)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• Wooley v. Maynard · 430 U.S. 705 (1977)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 530 (1980)
• Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville · 422 U.S. 205 (1975)
• Regan v. Taxation With Representation of Washington · 461 U.S. 540 (1983)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of Ohio · 471 U.S. 626 (1985)
• Connecticut Department of Income Maintenance v. Heckler · 471 U.S. 524 (1985)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• Hudgens v. National Labor Relations Board · 424 U.S. 507 (1976)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 557 (1980)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Lovell v. City of Griffin · 303 U.S. 444 (1938)
• Abood v. Detroit Board of Education · 431 U.S. 209 (1977)
• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
• Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc. · 425 U.S. 748 (1976)
• Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence · 468 U.S. 288 (1984)
• Shelton v. Tucker · 364 U.S. 479 (1960)
• Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite Co. · 396 U.S. 375 (1970)
• Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. · 452 U.S. 640 (1981)
• Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Assn. · 436 U.S. 447 (1978)
• Marsh v. Alabama · 326 U.S. 501 (1946)
• Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations · 413 U.S. 376 (1973)
• Silver v. Silver · 280 U.S. 117 (1929)
• Saxbe v. Washington Post Co. · 417 U.S. 843 (1974)

Cited by

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

• Moody v. NetChoice, LLC · 603 U.S. 707 (2024)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
• Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc. · 515 U.S. 557 (1995)
• Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm'n · 584 U.S. 617 (2018)
• Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc. · 547 U.S. 47 (2006)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party · 552 U.S. 442 (2008)
• Davis v. Federal Election Commission · 554 U.S. 724 (2008)
• Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. · 551 U.S. 449 (2007)
• Agency for Int'l Development v. Alliance for Open Society · 591 U.S. 430 (2020)
• Glickman v. Wileman Brothers & Elliott, Inc. · 521 U.S. 457 (1997)
• Ward v. Rock Against Racism · 491 U.S. 781 (1989)
• City of Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co. · 486 U.S. 750 (1988)
• Boos v. Barry · 485 U.S. 312 (1988)
• Riley v. National Federation of Blind of North Carolina, Inc. · 487 U.S. 781 (1988)
• Osborne v. Ohio · 495 U.S. 103 (1990)
• McConnell v. Federal Election Commission · 540 U.S. 93 (2003)
• Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee · 489 U.S. 214 (1989)
• Janus v. State, County, and Municipal Employees · 585 U.S. 878 (2018)
• National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley · 524 U.S. 569 (1998)
• Braswell v. United States · 487 U.S. 99 (1988)
• Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 518 U.S. 727 (1996)
• United States v. United Foods, Inc. · 533 U.S. 405 (2001)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1986). 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).