Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe

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Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe

Argued January 11, 1971
Decided March 2, 1971


Full case name:	Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, et al. v. Volpe, Secretary of Transportation, et al.

Citations:	401 U.S. 402; 91 S. Ct. 814; 28 L. Ed. 2d 136; 1971 U.S. LEXIS 96

Prior history:	Summary judgment for defendant, injunction denied, 309 F. Supp. 1189 (W.D. Tenn. 1970); aff'd, 432 F. 2d 1307 (6th Cir. 1970); certiorari granted, 400 U.S. 939 (1970)

Subsequent history:	On remand to 335 F. Supp. 873 (W.D. Tenn. 1972)

Holding

The Secretary of Transportation can only approve use of federal funds for construction of a highway in a public park if no (a) feasible and prudent alternative exists, and (b) after undertaking all possible planning to minimize harm.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun

Case opinions

Majority by: Marshall
Joined by: Burger, Harlan, Stewart, White, Blackmun (who filed a separate statement)
Concurrence by: Black
Joined by: Brennan
Douglas took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Laws applied

Administrative Procedure Act; Department of Transportation Act § 4(f), codified at 49 U.S.C. § 1653(f); Federal-Aid Highway Act § 138, codified at 23 U.S.C. § 138

Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402 (1971)^[1], is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that established the basic legal framework for judicial review of the actions of administrative agencies. It also stands as a notable example of the power of litigation by grassroots 'not-in-my-backyard' and preservationist movements to block government action.

The case concerned the decision by the Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe to construct Interstate 40 through Overton Park in Memphis, Tennessee.

During the interstate highway system's late 1950s and early 1960s building boom, public parks had been viewed as a desirable path. Building through them didn't require the federal government to use the power of eminent domain. That changed in the mid 1960s, under a federal statute commonly called Section 4(f). It required the government to demonstrate that there were no "feasible and prudent" alternatives to building through public lands.

On March 3, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, upholding the "feasible and prudent" clause. In the decision, Justice Thurgood Marshall stated that Section 4(f) "is a plain and explicit bar to the use of federal funds for construction of highways through parks—only the most unusual situations are exempted." The court recognized the place of cost, directness of route, and community disruption in highway routing, but the existence of the statute "indicates that protection of parkland was to be given paramount importance."