Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1573_8p6h.pdf
Page Number: 5.0

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 20–1573 
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VIKING RIVER CRUISES, INC., PETITIONER v. 
ANGIE MORIANA 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL OF 
CALIFORNIA, SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT 

[June 15, 2022] 

JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court.* 
We granted certiorari in this case to decide whether the 
Federal  Arbitration  Act  (FAA),  9  U. S. C.  §1  et seq., 
preempts a rule of California law that invalidates contrac-
tual waivers of the right to assert representative claims un-
der California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act 
of 2004. Cal. Lab. Code Ann. §2698 et seq. (West 2022). 

I 
A 
The California Legislature enacted the Labor Code Pri-
vate Attorneys General Act (PAGA) to address a perceived 
deficit in the enforcement of the State’s Labor Code.  Cali-
fornia’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) 
had  the  authority  to  bring  enforcement  actions  to  impose 
civil  penalties  on  employers  for  violations  of  many  of  the
code’s provisions.  But the legislature believed the LWDA
did not have sufficient resources to reach the appropriate 
level of compliance, and budgetary constraints made it im-

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*THE CHIEF JUSTICE joins Parts I and III of this opinion.