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Constitutional Law Keyed to Stone
Houston, East and West Texas Railway Co. v. United States (The Shreveport Rate Cases)
Citation:
234 U.S. 342 (1914)Facts
Railroad companies operating in Texas established rate structures that charged significantly higher rates for shipments from Shreveport, Louisiana to eastern Texas destinations than for shipments of equal or greater distance entirely within Texas. This rate disparity effectively discriminated against interstate commerce from Louisiana into Texas, favoring Texas shippers and businesses. The Interstate Commerce Commission, acting under its authority from the Interstate Commerce Act, determined these discriminatory rates were unjust and ordered the railroads to equalize their rates. The railroad companies challenged this order, arguing that the federal government had no constitutional authority to regulate rates for transportation occurring within the boundaries of Texas, as this was intrastate commerce subject only to state regulation.
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