Hugo Black

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.
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. ”

“ 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. ”