On February 22, 2021, the Supreme Court issued an order declining to review a Ninth Circuit decision that failed to read section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (known as the “transportation worker exemption”) in line with the statute’s text and context. The denial of certiorari was a disappointment for WLF, which filed an amicus brief in the case urging review. Although some judge-made tests purport to expand the transportation-worker exemption beyond national and international transportation of goods, WLF argued that these contrived standards defy statutory text and context, produce inconsistent results, and serve no end set forth by Congress. Because the plaintiffs in this case made only local deliveries purely intrastate, WLF contended, they fall outside the section 1 exemption. WLF’s amicus brief was joined by the Allied Educational Foundation.
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