Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon

Decided June 6, 2022. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 21-309 · 596 U.S. 450 (2022) · Cited 202 times

Holding

Airplane cargo loaders and ramp supervisors who, like petitioner Saxon, frequently load and unload airplane cargo belong to a “class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce” exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act’s coverage.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 8–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Gulf Oil Corp. v. Copp Paving Co. · 419 U.S. 186 (1974)
• Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams · 532 U.S. 105 (2001)
• United States v. American Building Maintenance Industries · 422 U.S. 271 (1975)
• Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons · 552 U.S. 214 (2008)
• McDermott International, Inc. v. Wilander · 498 U.S. 337 (1991)
• Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp. · 571 U.S. 220 (2014)
• Perrin v. United States · 444 U.S. 37 (1979)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Roberts v. Sea-Land Services, Inc. · 566 U.S. 93 (2012)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC · 601 U.S. 246 (2024)
• Fischer v. United States · 603 U.S. 480 (2024)
• Stanley v. City of Sanford · 606 U.S. 46 (2025)
• FDA v. R. J. Reynolds Vapor Co. · 606 U.S. 226 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

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Clarence Thomas’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2022). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).