Securities and Exchange Commission v. Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co. of America et al.

Decided March 23, 1959. William Orville Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 290 · 359 U.S. 65 (1959) · Cited 231 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 5–4.

“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.

• United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Assn. · 322 U.S. 533 (1944)
• Paul v. Virginia · 75 U.S. 168 (1869)
• Securities and Exchange Commission v. W. J. Howey Co. · 328 U.S. 293 (1946)
• Prudential Insurance v. Benjamin · 328 U.S. 408 (1946)
• Wilburn Boat Co. v. Fireman's Fund Insurance · 348 U.S. 310 (1955)
• Federal Trade Commission v. National Casualty Co. · 357 U.S. 560 (1958)

Cited by

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

• Group Life & Health Insurance v. Royal Drug Co. · 440 U.S. 205 (1979)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. United Benefit Life Insurance · 387 U.S. 202 (1967)
• Rush Prudential HMO, Inc. v. Moran · 536 U.S. 355 (2002)
• John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance v. Harris Trust & Savings Bank · 510 U.S. 86 (1993)
• United Housing Foundation, Inc. v. Forman · 421 U.S. 837 (1975)
• Tcherepnin v. Knight · 389 U.S. 332 (1967)
• Arizona Governing Committee for Tax Deferred Annuity & Deferred Compensation Plans v. Norris · 463 U.S. 1073 (1983)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. National Securities, Inc. · 393 U.S. 453 (1969)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Daniel · 439 U.S. 551 (1979)
• United States Department of Treasury v. Fabe · 508 U.S. 491 (1993)

Official text

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

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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).