Massachusetts Air Pollution and Noise Abatement Committee v. Claude S. Brinegar, as He is the Secretary of Transportation

This is an appeal from a district judge’s refusal to grant a temporary restraining order prohibiting three flights by the Concorde, a supersonic transport (SST), in and out of Boston during the next several days. 1 This is not the setting in which courts ordinarily address themselves to complex, long-term issues. Thus our decision today has no implications whatever for the merits of plaintiffs’ claim that there must be an environmental impact statement (EIS) before the Concorde operates within this country.

We act within the constraints of familiar law that the granting or denying of a…