Colorado Anti-Discrimination Comm'n v. Continental Air Lines, Inc., 372 U.S. 714 (1963)

372 U.S.
714
83 S.Ct. 1022
10 L.Ed.2d 84
The COLORADO ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMISSION

et al., Petitioners,
v.
CONTINENTAL AIR LINES, INC. Marlon D. GREEN,
Petitioner, v. CONTINENTAL AIR LINES, INC.
Nos. 146 and 492.
Argued March 28, 1963.
Decided April 22, 1963.
[Syllabus intentionally omitted]

T. Raber Taylor and Floyd B. Engeman, Denver, Colo., for petitioners.
Howard H. Jewel, Asst. Atty. Gen., for State of California, as amicus
curiae, by special leave of Court.
Shirley A. Siegel, New York City, for State of New York, as amicus
curiae, by special leave of Court.
Patrick M. Westfeldt, Denver, Colo., for respondent.
[Amicus Curiae from pages 715-716 intentionally omitted]
Mr. Justice BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner Marlon D. Green, a Negro, applied for a job as a pilot with

respondent Continental Air Lines, Inc., an interstate air carrier. His application
was submitted at Continental's headquarters in Denver, Colorado, and was later
considered and rejected there. Green then made complaint to the Colorado
Anti-Discrimination Commission that Continental had refused to hire him
because he was a Negro. The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act of 1957
provides that it is an unfair employment practice for an employer 'to refuse to
hire, to discharge, to promote or demote, or to discriminate in matters of
compensation against, any person otherwise qualified, because of race, creed,

color, national origin or ancestry.'1 After investigation and efforts at
conciliation, the Commission held extensive hearings and found as a fact 'that
the only reason that the Complainant was not selected for the training school
was because of his race.'2 The Commission ordered Continental to cease and
desist from such discriminatory practices and to 'give to the Complainant the
first opportunity to enroll in its training school in its next course * * *.' On
review the District Court in and for the City and County of Executive Orders.
The Supreme Court Denver set aside the Commission's findings and dismissed
Green's complaint. It held that the Anti-Discrimination Act could not
'constitutionally be extended to cover the hiring of flight crew personnel of an
interstate air carrier' because it would impose an undue burden upon commerce
in violation of Art. I, 8, cl. 3, of the United States Constitution, which gives
Congress power 'To regulate Commerce * * * among the several States * * *,'
and because the field of law concerning racial discrimination in the interstate
operation of carriers is preempted by the Railway Labor Act,3 the Civil
Aeronautics Act of 1938,4 and Federal Executive Orders. The Supreme Court
of Colorado affirmed the judgment of dismissal but discussed only the question
of whether the Act as applied placed an undue burden on commerce,
concluding that it did. 149 Colo. 259, 368 P.2d 970 (1962). The obvious
importance of even partial invalidation of a state law designed to prevent the
discriminatory denial of job opportunities prompted us to grant certiorari. 371
U.S. 809, 83 S.Ct. 26, 9 L.Ed.2d 52 (1962).
2
First. Continental argues that the State Supreme Court decision rested on an
independent and adequate nonfederal ground. For that argument, it relies on the
trial court's statement 'that the Colorado legislature was not attempting to
legislate concerning problems involving interstate commerce' and the statement
of the Supreme Court of Colorado that:
'The only question resolved was that of jurisdiction. The trial court determined
that the act was inapplicable to employees of those engaged in interstate
commerce, and the judgment was based exclusively on that ground.' 149 Colo.,
at 265, 368 P.2d, at 973.
We reject this contention. The trial court itself did not rest on this ground.
Instead, it clearly and unequivocally stated that the case presented a
constitutional question of whether the Act could legally be applied to interstate
operations. Nor did the Supreme Court of Colorado rely on this ground. It
interpreted the trial court's opinion as having held that the Act was invalid
insofar as it regulated interstate air carriers. The Court further stated that the
question was whether the Act could be applied to interstate carriers, which it
answered by concluding that under the Federal Constitution the State

Legislature had no power to deal with such matters. We are satisfied that the
courts below rested their judgments on their interpretation of the United States
Constitution and the preemptive effect of federal statutes and Executive Orders.
5
Second. In holding that the Colorado statute imposed an undue burden on

commerce, the State Supreme Court relied on the principle, first stated in
Cooley v. Board of Wardens of the Port of Philadelphia, 12 How. 299, 13 L.Ed.
996, that States have no power to act in those areas of interstate commerce
which by their nature require uniformity of regulation, even though Congress
has not legislated on the subject.5 The State Court read two prior decisions of
this Court, Hall v. DeCuir, 95 U.S. 485, 24 L.Ed. 547 (1878), and Morgan v.
Virginia, 328 U.S. 373, 66 S.Ct. 1050, 90 L.Ed. 1317 (1946), as having
established that the field of racial discrimination by an interstate carrier must be
free from diverse state regulation and governed uniformly, if at all, by
Congress. We do not believe those cases stated so encompassing a rule. The
line separating the powers of a State from the exclusive power of Congress is
not always distinctly marked; courts must examine closely the facts of each
case to determine whether the dangers and hardships of diverse regulation
justify foreclosing a State from the exercise of its traditional powers. This was
emphatically pointed out in Hall v. DeCuir, supra, the very case upon which
Continental chiefly relies:
'Judges not unfrequently differ in their reasons for a decision in which they
concur. Under such circumstances it would be a useless task to undertake to fix
an arbitrary rule by which the line must in all cases be located. It is far better to
leave a matter of such delicacy to be settled in each case upon a view of the
particular rights involved.' 95 U.S., at 488, 24 L.Ed. 547.
The circumstances in Hall v. DeCuir were that a Louisiana law forbidding

carriers to discriminate on account of race or color had been applied so as to
hold a steamboat owner liable for damages for assigning a colored passenger to
one cabin rather than another. This was held to violate the Commerce Clause,
but only after a careful analysis of the effects of the law on that carrier and its
passengers. Among other things, the Court pointed out that if each of the 10
States bordering the Mississippi River were free to regulate the carrier and to
provide for its own passengers and freight, the resulting confusion would
produce great inconvenience and unnecessary hardships. The Court concluded
that:
'Commerce cannot flourish in the midst of such embarrassments. No carrier of

passengers can conduct his business with satisfaction to himself or comfort to
those employing him, if on one side of a State line his passengers, both white
and colored, must be permitted to occupy the same cabin, and on the other be
kept separate. Uniformity in the regulations by which he is to be governed from
one end to the other of his route is a necessity in his business * * *.' 95 U.S., at
489, 24 L.Ed. 547.
9
After the same kind of analysis, the Court in Morgan v. Virginia, supra, held
that a Virginia law requiring segregation of motor carrier passengers, including
those on interstate journeys, infringed the Commerce Clause because uniform
regulation was essential. The Court emphasized the restriction on the
passengers' freedom to choose accommodations and the inconvenience of
constantly requiring passengers to shift seats. As in Hall v. DeCuir, the Court
explicitly recognized the absence of any one, sure test for deciding these
burden-on-commerce cases. It concluded, however, that the circumstances
before it showed that there would be a practical interference with carrier
transportation if diverse state laws were permitted to stand. The importance of a
particularized inquiry into the existence of a burden on commerce is again
illustrated by Bob-Lo Excursion Co. v. Michigan, 333 U.S. 28, 68 S.Ct. 358, 92
L.Ed. 455 (1948), where the Court had before it a state statute requiring
common carriers to serve all people alike regardless of color. The Court upheld
the law as applied to steamships transporting patrons between Michigan and
Canada. Following the rule that each case must be adjudged on its particular
facts, the Court concluded that neither Hall nor Morgan was 'comparable in its
facts, whether in the degree of localization of the commerce involved; in the
attenuating effects, if any, upon the commerce * * *; or in any actual
probability of conflicting regulations by different sovereignties.' 333 U.S., at
39, 68 S.Ct. at 364.
10
We are not convinced that commerce will be unduly burdened if Continental is

required by Colorado to refrain from racial discrimination in its hiring of pilots
in that State. Not only is the hiring within a State of an employee, even for an
interstate job, a much more localized matter than the transporting of passengers
from State to State6 but more significantly the threat of diverse and conflicting
regulation of hiring practices is virtually nonexistent. In Hall and in Morgan the
Court assumed the validity both of state laws requiring segregation and of state
laws forbidding segregation. Were there a possibility that a pilot hired in
Colorado could be barred solely because of his color from serving a carrier in
another State, then this case might well be controlled by our prior holdings. But
under our more recent decisions7 any state or federal law requiring applicants
for any job to be turned away because of their color would be invalid under the
Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the Due Process and Equal
Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The kind of burden that was
thought possible in the Hall and Morgan cases, therefore, simply cannot exist
here. It is, of course, possible that States could impose such onerous, harassing,
and conflicting conditions on an interstate carrier's hiring of employees that the
burden would hamper the carrier's satisfactory performance of its functions.
But that is not this case. We hold that the Colorado statute as applied here to
prevent discrimination in hiring on account of race does not impose a
constitutionally prohibited burden upon interstate commerce.
11
Third. Continental argues that federal law has so pervasively covered the field
of protecting people in interstate commerce from racial discrimination that the
States are barred from enacting legislation in this field. It is not contended,
however, that the Colorado statute is in direct conflict with federal law,8 that it
denies rights granted by Congress,9 or that it stands as an obstacle to the full
effectiveness of a federal statute.10 Rather Continental argues that:
12
'When Congress has taken the particular subject-matter in hand, coincidence is

as ineffective as opposition, and a state law is not to be declared a help because
it attempts to go farther than Congress has seen fit to go.'11
13
But this Court has also said that the mere 'fact of identity does not mean the
automatic invalidity of State measures.'12 To hold that a state statute identical in
purpose with a federal statute is invalid under the Supremacy Clause, we must
be able to conclude that the purpose of the federal statute would to some extent
be frustrated by the state statute. We can reach no such conclusion here.
14
Continental relies first on the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, 13 now the Federal
Aviation Act of 1958,14 and its broad general provisions for forbidding air
carriers to subject any particular person to 'any unjust discrimination or any
undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever'15
and requiring 'The promotion of adequate, economical, and efficient service by
air carriers at reasonable charges, without unjust discriminations, undue
preferences or advantages, or unfair or destructive competitive practices * *
*.'16 This is a familiar type of regulation, aimed primarily at rate discrimination
injurious to shippers, competitors, and localities.17 But we may assume, for
present purposes, that these provisions prohibit racial discrimination against
passengers and other customers18 and that they protect job applicants or
employees from discrimination on account of race. The Civil Aeronautics
Board and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency have indeed broad
authority over flight crews of air carriers,19 much of which has been exercised
by regulations.20 Notwithstanding this broad authority, we are satisfied that
Congress in the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 and its successor had no express
or implied intent to bar state legislation in this field and that the Colorado
statute, at least so long as any power the Civil Aeronautics Board may have
remains 'dormant and unexercised,'21 will not frustrate any part of the purpose
of the federal legislation.22
15
There is even less reason to say that Congress, in passing the Railway Labor
Act23 and making certain of its provisions applicable to air carriers, intended to
bar States from protecting employees against racial discrimination. No
provision in the Act even mentions discrimination in hiring. It is true that in
several cases we have held that the exclusive bargaining agents authorized by
the Act must not use their powers to discriminate against minority groups
whom they are supposed to represent.24 And we have held that employers too
may be enjoined from carrying out provisions of a discriminatory bargaining
agreement.25 But the duty the Act imposes is one of fair representation and it is
imposed upon the union. The employer is merely prohibited from aiding the
union in breaching its duty. Nothing in the Railway Labor Act or in our cases
suggests that the Act places upon an air carrier a duty to engage only in fair
nondiscriminatory hiring practices. The Act has never been used for that
purpose, and we cannot hold it bars Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act.
16
Finally, we reject the argument that Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act cannot

constitutionally be enforced because of Executive Orders requiring government
contracting agencies to include in their contracts clauses by which contractors
agree not to discriminate against employees or applicants because of their race,
religion, color, or national origin.26 The District Court purported to take judicial
notice that 'a certificated commercial carrier by air (such as respondent) is
obligated to and in fact does transport United States mail under contract with
the United States Government.' The Government answers that in fact it has no
contract with Continental and that, while 49 U.S.C. 1375 requires air lines to
carry mail, it does not forbid discrimination on account of race or compel the
execution of a contract subject to Executive Orders. We do not rest on this
ground alone, however, nor do we reach the question of whether an Executive
Order can foreclose state legislation. It is impossible for us to believe that the
Executive intended for its orders to regulate air carrier discrimination among
employees so pervasively as to preempt state legislation intended to accomplish
the same purpose.
17
The judgment of the Supreme Court of Colorado is reversed and the cause is
remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
18
It is so ordered.
19
Reversed and remanded with directions.
19
Reversed and remanded with directions.
Colo.Rev.Stat.Ann. (Supp.1960) 80246.
The Commission also found that Continental was 'guilty of a discriminatory

and unfair employment practice in requiring on its application form, the racial
identity of the applicant and the requirement of a photo to be attached to the
application,' contrary to the Commission's regulation.
44 Stat. 577, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 151188.
52 Stat. 973, as amended, 49 U.S.C. (1952 ed.) 401722, now Federal

Aviation Act of 1958, 72 Stat. 731, 49 U.S.C. 1301 1542.
It is not claimed in this case that the Colorado Act discriminated against
interstate commerce, see, e.g., Best & Co. v. Maxwell, 311 U.S. 454, 61 S.Ct.
334, 85 L.Ed. 275 (1940), or that it places a substantial economic burden on
Continental, see, e.g., Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, 359 U.S. 520, 79 S.Ct.
962, 3 L.Ed.2d 1003 (1959).
See, e.g., California v. Thompson, 313 U.S. 109, 61 S.Ct. 930, 85 L.Ed. 1219
(1941); Erie R. Co. v. Williams, 233 U.S. 685, 34 S.Ct. 761, 58 L.Ed. 1155
(1914).
E.g., Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483. 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873
(1954); Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497, 74 S.Ct. 693, 98 L.Ed. 884 (1954);
Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U.S. 31, 82 S.Ct. 549, 7 L.Ed.2d 512 (1962).
See McDermott v. Wisconsin, 228 U.S. 115, 33 S.Ct. 431, 57 L.Ed. 754
(1913).
See, e.g., United Mine Workers v. Arkansas Oak Flooring Co., 351 U.S. 62, 76
S.Ct. 559, 100 L.Ed. 941 (1956).
10
See, e.g., Hill v. Florida ex rel. Watson, 325 U.S. 538, 65 S.Ct. 1373, 89 L.Ed.
1782 (1945); Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 61 S.Ct. 399, 85 L.Ed. 581
(1941).
11
Charleston & W.C.R. Co. v. Varnville Furniture Co., 237 U.S. 597, 604, 35
S.Ct. 715, 717, 59 L.Ed. 1137 (1915).
12
California v. Zook, 336 U.S. 725, 730, 69 S.Ct. 841, 843, 93 L.Ed. 1005
(1949).
13
52 Stat. 973, as amended, 49 U.S.C. (1952 ed.) 401 722.
14
The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 was substantially reenacted by the Federal
Aviation Act of 1958, 72 Stat. 731, 49 U.S.C. 13011542. Some of the
powers and duties of the Civil Aeronautics Board were transferred to the
Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency.
15
49 U.S.C. (1952 ed.) 484(b), now 49 U.S.C. 1374(b).
16
49 U.S.C. (1952 ed.) 402(c), now 49 U.S.C. 1302(c).
17
Compare Interstate Commerce Act 3(1), 49 U.S.C. 3(1).
18
See Fitzgerald v. Pan American World Airways, 229 F.2d 499 (C.A.2d Cir.,
1956); United States v. City of Montgomery, 201 F.Supp. 590 (M.D.Ala.1962);
cf. Henderson v. United States, 339 U.S. 816, 70 S.Ct. 843, 94 L.Ed. 1302
(1950); Mitchell v. United States, 313 U.S. 80, 61 S.Ct. 873, 85 L.Ed. 1201
(1941).
19
See 49 U.S.C. (1952 ed.) 552, 559, now 49 U.S.C. 1422, 1429.
20
See, e.g., 14 CFR 20.40, 20.4220.45, 20.121, 21.1, 40.300.
21
Bethlehem Steel Co. v. New York State Labor Rel. Bd., 330 U.S. 767, 775, 67
S.Ct. 1026, 1031, 91 L.Ed. 1234 (1947). See Parker v. Brown, 317 U.S. 341, 63
S.Ct. 307, 87 L.Ed. 315 (1943); H. P. Welch Co. v. New Hampshire, 306 U.S.
79, 59 S.Ct. 438, 83 L.Ed. 500 (1939).
22
If the federal authorities seek to deal with discrimination in hiring practices and
their power to do so is upheld that would raise questions not presented here.
Compare California v. Thompson, 313 U.S. 109, 61 S.Ct. 930, 85 L.Ed. 1219
(1941), with California v. Zook, 336 U.S. 725, 69 S.Ct. 841, 93 L.Ed. 1005
(1949).
23
44 Stat. 577, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 151188.
24
See, e.g., Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957);
Steele v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 323 U.S. 192, 65 S.Ct. 226, 89 L.Ed.
173 (1944).
25
See, e.g., Brotherhood of R. Trainmen v. Howard, 343 U.S. 768, 775, 72 S.Ct.
1022, 1026, 96 L.Ed. 1283 (1952).
26
Executive Order No. 10479, 18 Fed.Reg. 4899 (Aug. 13, 1953), Executive
Order No. 10557, 19 Fed.Reg. 5655 (Sept. 3, 1954), both revoked and
superseded by Executive Order No. 10925, 26 Fed.Reg. 1977 (March 6, 1961).

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372 U.S.

The COLORADO ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMISSION

[Syllabus intentionally omitted]

Petitioner Marlon D. Green, a Negro, applied for a job as a pilot with

compensation against, any person otherwise qualified, because of race, creed,

answered by concluding that under the Federal Constitution the State

Second. In holding that the Colorado statute imposed an undue burden on

The circumstances in Hall v. DeCuir were that a Louisiana law forbidding

'Commerce cannot flourish in the midst of such embarrassments. No carrier of

We are not convinced that commerce will be unduly burdened if Continental is

'When Congress has taken the particular subject-matter in hand, coincidence is

Finally, we reject the argument that Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act cannot

Reversed and remanded with directions.

Reversed and remanded with directions.

Colo.Rev.Stat.Ann. (Supp.1960) 80246.

The Commission also found that Continental was 'guilty of a discriminatory

44 Stat. 577, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 151188.

52 Stat. 973, as amended, 49 U.S.C. (1952 ed.) 401722, now Federal

52 Stat. 973, as amended, 49 U.S.C. (1952 ed.) 401 722.

49 U.S.C. (1952 ed.) 484(b), now 49 U.S.C. 1374(b).

49 U.S.C. (1952 ed.) 402(c), now 49 U.S.C. 1302(c).

Compare Interstate Commerce Act 3(1), 49 U.S.C. 3(1).

See, e.g., 14 CFR 20.40, 20.4220.45, 20.121, 21.1, 40.300.

44 Stat. 577, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 151188.

superseded by Executive Order No. 10925, 26 Fed.Reg. 1977 (March 6, 1961).

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