Southern Motor Carriers Rate Conference, Inc., et al. v. United States

Decided March 27, 1985. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 82-1922 · 471 U.S. 48 (1985) · Cited 275 times

Holding

Petitioners' collective ratemaking activities, although not compelled by the respective States, are immune from federal antitrust liability under the state action doctrine.

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 7–2.

“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.

• Parker v. Brown · 317 U.S. 341 (1943)
• Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar · 421 U.S. 773 (1975)
• Cantor v. Detroit Edison Co. · 428 U.S. 579 (1976)
• California Retail Liquor Dealers Assn. v. Midcal Aluminum, Inc. · 445 U.S. 97 (1980)
• United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Assn. · 322 U.S. 533 (1944)
• Georgia v. Pennsylvania Railroad · 324 U.S. 439 (1945)
• Community Communications Co. v. City of Boulder · 455 U.S. 40 (1982)
• United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Assn. · 166 U.S. 290 (1897)
• City of Lafayette v. Louisiana Power & Light Co. · 435 U.S. 389 (1978)
• Keogh v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co. · 260 U.S. 156 (1922)
• Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc. · 365 U.S. 127 (1961)
• United Mine Workers v. Pennington · 381 U.S. 657 (1965)
• United States v. Philadelphia National Bank · 374 U.S. 321 (1963)
• Continental Ore Co. v. Union Carbide & Carbon Corp. · 370 U.S. 690 (1962)
• Silver v. New York Stock Exchange · 373 U.S. 341 (1963)
• Group Life & Health Insurance v. Royal Drug Co. · 440 U.S. 205 (1979)
• United States v. National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. · 422 U.S. 694 (1975)
• United States v. McKesson & Robbins, Inc. · 351 U.S. 305 (1956)
• United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. · 310 U.S. 150 (1940)
• Bates v. State Bar of Arizona · 433 U.S. 350 (1977)
• United States v. Borden Co. · 308 U.S. 188 (1939)
• United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. · 334 U.S. 131 (1948)
• Schwegmann Bros. v. Calvert Distillers Corp. · 341 U.S. 384 (1951)
• Posadas v. National City Bank · 296 U.S. 497 (1936)
• United States v. Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific R. · 294 U.S. 499 (1935)
• New Motor Vehicle Bd. of Cal. v. Orrin W. Fox Co. · 439 U.S. 96 (1978)
• United States v. Joint Traffic Assn. · 171 U.S. 505 (1898)
• Abbott Laboratories v. Portland Retail Druggists Assn., Inc. · 425 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Interstate Commerce Commission v. American Trucking Associations · 467 U.S. 354 (1984)

Cited by

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

• Federal Trade Commission v. Ticor Title Insurance · 504 U.S. 621 (1992)
• Patrick v. Burget · 486 U.S. 94 (1988)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Indiana Federation of Dentists · 476 U.S. 447 (1986)
• City of Columbia v. Omni Outdoor Advertising, Inc. · 499 U.S. 365 (1991)
• Ticor Title Insurance v. Brown · 511 U.S. 117 (1994)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Lewis Franklin Powell 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).