Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 328

Cite as: 558 U. S. 165 (2010) 

167 

Opinion of the Court 

Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General of Connecticut, ar­
gued the cause for respondents.  With him on the brief were 
John S. Wright and Michael C. Wertheimer, Assistant Attor­
neys General, Jesse S. Reyes, Assistant Attorney General of 
Massachusetts,  Mary  E.  Grover,  Lisa  Fink,  and  Stephen  L. 
Teichler.* 

Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court. 
The  Federal  Power  Act  (FPA  or  Act),  41  Stat.  1063,  as 
amended,  16  U. S. C.  § 791a  et  seq.,  authorizes  the  Federal 
Energy  Regulatory  Commission  (FERC  or  Commission)  to 
superintend  the  sale  of  electricity  in  interstate  commerce 
and  provides  that  all  wholesale-electricity  rates  must  be 
“just  and  reasonable, ”  § 824d(a).  Under  this  Court’s 
Mobile-Sierra doctrine, FERC must presume that a rate set 
by  “a  freely  negotiated  wholesale-energy  contract”  meets 
the  statutory  “just  and  reasonable”  requirement.  Morgan 
Stanley  Capital  Group  Inc.  v.  Public  Util.  Dist.  No.  1  of 
Snohomish  Cty.,  554  U. S.  527,  530  (2008).  “The  presump­
tion  may  be  overcome  only  if  FERC  concludes  that  the 
contract seriously harms the public interest.”  Ibid. 

This  case  stems  from  New  England’s  difﬁculties  in  main­
taining the reliability of its energy grid.  In 2006, after sev­
eral  attempts  by  the  Commission  and  concerned  parties  to 

*Briefs  of  amici  curiae  urging  reversal  were  ﬁled  for  the  Electric 
Power  Supply  Association  et  al.  by  Paul  D.  Clement,  Ashley  C.  Parrish, 
David G. Tewksbury, David B. Johnson, Barry Russell, Timm Abendroth, 
Peter  W.  Brown,  and  Daniel  W.  Douglass;  for  Morgan  Stanley  Capital 
Group,  Inc.,  et  al.  by  Walter  Dellinger,  Sri  Srinivasan,  and  Kathryn  E. 
Tarbert;  and  for  Colin  C.  Blaydon  et  al.  by  Richard  P.  Bress,  Michael  J. 
Gergen, and Stephanie S. Lim. 

Briefs  of  amici  curiae  urging  afﬁrmance  were  ﬁled  for  the  American 
Public Power Association et al. by Scott H. Strauss, Susan N. Kelly, Wal­
lace  F.  Tillman,  and  Richard  Meyer;  for  Public  Citizen,  Inc.,  et  al.  by 
Scott  L.  Nelson,  Lynn  Hargis,  and  Barbara  Jones;  and  for  the  California 
Public Utilities Commission by Kevin K. Russell, Frank R. Lindh, Eliza­
beth M. McQuillan, and Karen P. Paull.