Southern Pac. Co. v. Railroad Commission

This is a suit in equity brought by the Southern Pacific Company, seeking to enjoin the enforcement of an order of the State Railroad Commission. The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen complained to the commission that the rules and practices of the Southern Pacific Company in operating freight trains in the Sierra Nevada Mountains from Roseville, Cal., to the Nevada stale line subjected train crews to unreasonable hardship and danger. After a hearing, the commission issued the following order:

Hearing was had before a statutory three-judge court (section 266, Judicial Code, 28 USCA § 380), and an interlocutory injunction was granted. The suit was referred to one of the members of this court as special master, who heard the evidence and transmitted the transcript thereof to this court. Final hearing and arguments were had, and the case is now ready for decision.

The issues may be briefly stated as follows: Plaintiff alleges that the order interferes with and places an undue burden upon interstate commerce, and that the order is so vague and uncertain as to render it unreasonable and arbitrary, and therefore violates the commerce clause of the Constitution (article 1, § 8, cl.…