Consolidated Edison Co. v. Public Service Commission

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Consolidated Edison Co. v. Public Service Commission

Argued March 17, 1980
Decided June 20, 1980


Full case name:	Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Incorporated v. Public Servic Commission of New York

Citations:	447 U.S. 530; 100 S. Ct. 2326; 65 L. Ed. 2d 319; 1980 U.S. LEXIS 6; 6 Media L. Rep. 1518; 34 P.U.R.4th 208

Prior history:	402 N.Y.S.2d 551 (N.Y. Sup.Ct. 1978); reversed, 407 N.Y.S.2d 735 (N.Y. Sup.Ct.App.Div. 1978); affirmed, 390 N.E.2d 749 (N.Y. 1979)

Subsequent history:	On remand, reversed and remanded, 413 N.E.2d 365 (N.Y. 1980)

Holding

The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, protects the right of utility companies to include inserts on matters of controversial public policy with billing statements.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices: William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr., William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens

Case opinions

Majority by: Powell
Joined by: Burger, Brennan, Stewart, White, Marshall
Concurrence by: Marshall
Concurrence by: Stevens
Dissent by: Blackmun
Joined by: Rehnquist (parts I, II)

Laws applied

U.S. Const. amend. I; N.Y. Pub. Serv. Law §§ 4, 5, 65, 66

Consolidated Edison Co. v. Public Service Commission, 447 U.S. 530 (1980), was a United States Supreme Court decision addressing the free speech rights of public utility corporations under the First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth. The Court's ruling invalidated an order by the New York Public Service Commission that prohibited utility companies from including inserts on controversial matters of public policy with billing statements.