Securities Industry Association v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
United States Supreme Court
468 U.S. 137 (1984)
Facts
In 1933, Congress enacted the Glass-Steagall Act to separate investment-banking activities from commercial banking. Bankers Trust Company was a New York-chartered member bank of the Federal Reserve System. In 1978, Bankers Trust began serving as an agent for the placement of commercial paper offered by some of its customers. The Securities Industry Association (the association) (plaintiff), a trade association, and A.G. Becker, Incorporated (Becker) (plaintiff), a commercial-paper dealer, petitioned the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the board) (defendant) to issue a ruling that Bankers Trust’s activities placing commercial paper were unlawful under the Glass-Steagall Act. The board found that commercial paper more closely resembled a commercial bank loan than an investment transaction, so commercial paper was not a security for purposes of the Glass-Steagall Act. The association and Becker sued the board in district court, challenging the board’s interpretation of security with respect to the Glass-Steagall Act. The district court disagreed with the board’s interpretation. The court of appeals found that the board’s interpretation was entitled to deference and reversed the district court’s judgment. The association and Becker appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Blackmun, J.)
Dissent (O’Connor, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 705,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,300 briefs, keyed to 983 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.
