Cite as: 524 U. S. 214 (1998)
Rehnquist, C. J., concurring
against AT&T amount to no more than an intentional refusal to provide services to respondent in an amount or manner contrary to the filed tariff.
I write separately to note that this finding is necessary to the conclusion that respondent's state-law tort claim may not proceed. As the majority correctly states, the filed rate doctrine exists to protect the "antidiscriminatory policy which lies at 'the heart of the common-carrier section of the Communications Act.' " Ante, at 223. Central to that anti-discriminatory policy is the notion that all purchasers of services covered by the tariff will pay the same rate. The filed rate doctrine furthers this policy by disallowing suits brought to enforce agreements to provide services on terms different from those listed in the tariff. This ensures that the tariff governs the terms by which the common carrier provides those services to its customers.
It is crucial to note, however, that this is all the tariff governs. In order for the filed rate doctrine to serve its purpose, therefore, it need pre-empt only those suits that seek to alter the terms and conditions provided for in the tariff. This is how the doctrine has been applied in the past. In Chicago & Alton R. Co. v. Kirby, 225 U. S. 155 (1912), for example, respondent entered into a contract with petitioner to ship horses from Springfield, Illinois, to New York City via a special fast train. The tariff that the petitioner had filed "did not provide for an expedited service, nor for transportation by any particular train." Id., at 163. The Court ruled that respondent's suit to enforce the special arrangement could not proceed:
"An advantage accorded by special agreement which affects the value of the service to the shipper and its cost to the carrier should be published in the tariffs, and for a breach of such a contract, relief will be denied, because its allowance without such publication is a violation of the act. It is also illegal because it is an undue advan-
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