Simpson v. Union Oil Co. of California

Decided April 20, 1964. William Orville Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87 · 377 U.S. 13 (1964) · Cited 363 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 5–3.

“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.

• United States v. General Electric Co. · 272 U.S. 476 (1926)
• Poller v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. · 368 U.S. 464 (1962)
• United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. · 310 U.S. 150 (1940)
• United States v. Parke, Davis & Co. · 362 U.S. 29 (1960)
• United States v. Colgate & Co. · 250 U.S. 300 (1919)
• Standard Oil Co. of California v. United States · 337 U.S. 293 (1949)
• Radovich v. National Football League · 352 U.S. 445 (1957)
• United States v. Masonite Corp. · 316 U.S. 265 (1942)
• Radiant Burners, Inc. v. Peoples Gas Light & Coke Co. · 364 U.S. 656 (1961)
• Ethyl Gasoline Corp. v. United States · 309 U.S. 436 (1940)

Cited by

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

• Perma Life Mufflers, Inc. v. International Parts Corp. · 392 U.S. 134 (1968)
• Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. · 551 U.S. 877 (2007)
• American Trucking Assns., Inc. v. Smith · 496 U.S. 167 (1990)
• F.T.C. v. Actavis, Inc. · 570 U.S. 136 (2013)
• Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. · 473 U.S. 614 (1985)
• Atlantic Richfield Co. v. USA Petroleum Co. · 495 U.S. 328 (1990)
• United States v. Arnold, Schwinn & Co. · 388 U.S. 365 (1967)
• United States v. Estate of Donnelly · 397 U.S. 286 (1970)
• Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson · 404 U.S. 97 (1971)
• Continental T. v. Inc. v. GTE Sylvania Inc. · 433 U.S. 36 (1977)
• United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Assn., Inc. · 393 U.S. 199 (1968)
• James B. Beam Distilling Co. v. Georgia · 501 U.S. 529 (1991)
• Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. · 441 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 411 U.S. 192 (1973)
• United States v. General Motors Corp. · 384 U.S. 127 (1966)
• Flood v. Kuhn · 407 U.S. 258 (1972)
• Atlantic Refining Co. v. Federal Trade Commission · 381 U.S. 357 (1965)

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).