Powell v. United States’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

72 federal appellate · 38 district · 1 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 233 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[N]o carrier by railroad subject to this part shall abandon all or any portion of a line of railroad, or the operation thereof, unless and until there shall first have been obtained from the Commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity permit of such abandonment. Section 1(20) further provides: . Any . . . abandonment contrary to the provisions of this paragraph or of paragraph (18) or (19) of this section may be enjoined by any court of competent jurisdiction at the suit of . the Commission.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Louisiana & Arkansas Railway Co. v. Missouri Pacific Railroad · Interstate Commerce Commission v. Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad

2. ““* * * The purpose of section 1, subds. (18) to (22) of the Act was to empower the Commission in proceedings instituted by a carrier proposing to engage in transportation over or by means of an additional or extended line authoritatively to decide whether it would be in the public interest. Unless the project is one covered by section 1(18), the Commission is not authorized by the act to consider whether it is in the public interest and, for lack of jurisdiction to determine that question, it must deny the application. Upon presentation by the carrier of application for a certificate, the Commission, for the purpose of determining whether it is authorized by the act to consider the merits, may pass incidentally upon the question whether the project is one covered by section 1(18). But the decision of that question is for the court in either a suit to set aside an order granting a certificate or in a suit under section 1(20) to enjoin a violation of section 1(18). The function of the court is to construe that paragraph; that of the Commission is to determine whether the project, if it is one covered by the paragraph, is in the public interest. * * * ” (Emphasis added.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Long Island Rail Road v. New York Central Railroad

3. ““If the cancellation of the instant tariff item has the effect of constituting an unlawful abandonment, the protestante sole remedy is an action under Section 1 (20) of the Act. That section provides the only method of enforcing the provisions of section 1 (18). It states that any abandonment contrary to the provisions of section 1 (18) may be enjoined at the suit of the United States, this Commission, or any commission or regulating body of an affected State, or any party in interest. By protest against the instant tariff, the L & A is seeking an order of the Commission equivalent to a decree of a court in a suit under Section 1 (20) to enjoin an abandonment, and the remedy provided by that Section is clearly inconsistent with a proceeding before the Commission to attain the same end. The statutes cannot be construed as affording a party seeking to enforce Section 1 (18) a choice of forums or remedies.”'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Louisiana & Arkansas Railway Co. v. Missouri Pacific Railroad