Sangamon Valley Television Corp. v. United States

269 F.2d 221 (1959)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
S
From our private database of 46,200+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Sangamon Valley Television Corp. v. United States

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
269 F.2d 221 (1959)

SC
Play video

Facts

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) (defendant) opened a notice-and-comment rulemaking to determine whether to issue a television channel license to Sangamon Valley Television Corporation (Sangamon) (plaintiff) or Signal Hill (defendant). Sangamon was in Springfield, Illinois, and Signal Hill was in St. Louis, Missouri. After the comment period closed, Tenenbaum, Signal Hill’s president, had several meetings with FCC commissioners, during which he advocated for the license to be issued to St. Louis. In addition, Tenenbaum wrote a letter to each commissioner, asserting that the viewership in St. Louis would be higher than in Springfield. The FCC did not put the letters into the formal administrative record. The FCC awarded the license to Signal Hill. Sangamon brought suit to challenge the FCC order.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Edgerton, C.J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 778,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 778,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 778,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,200 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Administrative Law

Key Terms