Civil Aeronautics Board v. Delta Air Lines, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
1961
Citation profile
209 federal appellate · 18 district · 40 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 458 later decisions (9 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2024 · most notably Stone v. Immigration & Naturalization Service (1995), Greater Boston Television Corporation v. Federal Communications Commission, Whdh, Inc., a Massachusettscorporation, Intervenor. Whdh, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, Greater Boston Televisioncorporation, a Massachusetts Corporation, Intervenor. Charles River Civic Television, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, Whdh, Inc., Boston Broadcastersinc., Intervenors. Whdh, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, Boston Broadcasters, Inc., Intervenor. Greater Boston Tv Co., Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, Whdh, Inc., Boston Broadcastersinc., Intervenors (1971)
209 federal appellate · 18 district · 40 state decisions — followed in 13 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Appellate journey
reviewedDelta Air Lines, Inc. v. Civil Aeronautics Board (from Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 49 U.S.C. § 308 · 5 U.S.C. § 1009
Relies on Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. United States · American Trucking Associations, Inc. v. Frisco Transportation Co. · Saginaw Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · United States v. Seatrain Lines, Inc.
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 458 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“the desirability of finality on one hand and the public's interest in reaching what, ultimately, appears to be the right result on the other.”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[it] thinks it should do but what Congress has said it can do.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[W]hile there is no legislative history directly on point, the background of the Aviation Act strongly supports what we believe to be the plain meaning of ... [§ 401](g). It is clear from the statements of the supporters of the predecessor of the Aviation Act — the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 — that Congress was vitally concerned with what has been called “security of route” — i.e., providing assurance to the carrier that its investment in operations would be protected insofar as reasonably possible.... [T]o the extent there are uncertainties over the Board’s power to alter effective certificates, there is an identifiable congressional intent that these uncertainties be resolved in favor of the certificated carrier and that the specific instructions set out in the statute should not be modified by resort to such generalities as “administrative flexibility” and “implied powers.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.