Constitutional Accountability Center Constitutional Accountability Center
Access to Justice

RELEASE: Court Unanimously Rejects Atextual “Transportation Industry” Requirement for FAA Exemption, Allowing Truck Drivers Their Day in Court

WASHINGTON, DC – Following today’s decision at the Supreme Court in Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC, a case in which the Court considered whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) exempts workers who are actively engaged in interstate transportation but are not employed by a company in the transportation “industry,” Constitutional Accountability Center Appellate Counsel Miriam Becker-Cohen issued the following reaction:

Today the Court unanimously rejected an attempt by a large corporation to contort the text of the FAA’s exemption for transportation workers to force more of its workers, who allege their rights have been violated, out of courtrooms and into arbitration proceedings. Echoing the straightforward textual analysis we presented in our amicus brief, the Court held that, as the Chief Justice put it, the exemption “says nothing to direct courts to consider the indus­try of a worker’s employer.” In other words, workers qualify as transportation workers based on the work they perform, not the industry for which they perform the work.

We are pleased that the Court recognized that the text of the FAA exemption, informed by the words’ original public meaning, dictates the outcome here. Indeed, as the Court noted, this approach to the FAA exemption is hardly new. The result here flowed directly from several of the Court’s previous cases, including Southwest Airlines v. Saxon, decided just a couple of years ago.

As a result of this case, the plaintiffs—truck drivers for a large baked goods corporation—will, at long last, get their day in court.

##

Resources:

Case page in Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC: https://www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/bissonnette-v-lepage-bakeries-park-st-llc/

Oral argument press release: Court Grapples Once Again with Federal Arbitration Act’s Exemption for Transportation Workers

##

Constitutional Accountability Center is a nonpartisan think tank and public interest law firm dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text, history, and values. Visit CAC’s website at www.theusconstitution.org.

##

More from Access to Justice

Access to Justice
February 12, 2026

February Newsletter: CAC Supports Everyday Americans Fighting for Their Day in Court

At every level of our judicial system, a complex set of doctrines determines what cases...
Access to Justice
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Taylor v. Healthcare Associates of Texas

In United States ex rel. Taylor v. Healthcare Associates of Texas, the Fifth Circuit is considering whether the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act violate Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
Access to Justice
U.S. Supreme Court

Flowers Foods v. Brock

In Flowers Foods v. Brock, the Supreme Court is considering whether the Federal Arbitration Act exempts from arbitration “last-mile” delivery drivers who transport goods between two points in the same state to their final destinations,...
Access to Justice
U.S. Supreme Court

T.M. v. University of Maryland Medical System

In T.M. v. University of Maryland Medical System, the Supreme Court is considering whether the Rooker-Feldman doctrine requires dismissal of a request for relief from a state-court decision that did not reach the state’s highest...
Access to Justice
January 14, 2026

CAC Release: Supreme Court Justices Pose Difficult Questions to State-Affiliated Corporation that Claims Immunity from Suit

WASHINGTON, DC – Following oral argument at the Supreme Court this morning in Galette v....
By: Brian R. Frazelle, Harith Khawaja
Access to Justice
U.S. Supreme Court

Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corp. and New Jersey Transit Corp. v. Colt

In Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corporation and New Jersey Transit Corporation v. Colt, the Supreme Court is considering whether state-affiliated corporations have sovereign immunity.