Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-309_o758.pdf
Page Number: 6.0

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

3 

Opinion of the Court 

The Seventh Circuit’s decision conflicted with an earlier 
decision of the Fifth Circuit.  See Eastus v. ISS Facility Ser-
vices, Inc., 960 F. 3d 207 (2020).  We granted certiorari to
resolve the disagreement.  595 U. S. ___ (2021). 

II 
In this case, we must decide whether Saxon falls within 
a  “class  of  workers  engaged  in  foreign  or  interstate  com-
merce.”  9 U. S. C. §1.  We interpret this language according
to its “ ‘ordinary, contemporary, common meaning.’ ”  San-
difer v. United States Steel Corp., 571 U. S. 220, 227 (2014) 
(quoting Perrin v.  United States, 444 U. S. 37, 42 (1979)); 
see also New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, 586 U. S. ___, ___–___ 
(2019) (slip op., at 6–7).  To discern that ordinary meaning,
those words “ ‘must be read’ ” and interpreted “ ‘in their con-
text,’ ”  not  in  isolation.  Parker  Drilling  Management  Ser-
vices, Ltd. v. Newton, 587 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 
5) (quoting Roberts v. Sea-Land Services, Inc., 566 U. S. 93, 
101 (2012)).

We  begin  by  defining  the  relevant  “class  of  workers”  to
which  Saxon  belongs.   Then,  we  determine  whether  that 
class  of  workers  is  “engaged  in  foreign  or  interstate  com-
merce.” 

A 
First, the parties dispute how to define the relevant “class
of workers.”  Saxon argues that because air transportation
“[a]s an industry” is engaged in interstate commerce, “air-
line employees” constitute a “ ‘class of workers’ ” covered by 
§1.  Brief for Respondent 17.  Southwest, by contrast, main-
tains  that  §1  “exempts  classes  of  workers  based  on  their 
conduct, not their employer’s,” and the relevant class there-
fore includes only those airline employees who are actually 
engaged  in interstate  commerce  in  their  day-to-day  work.
Reply Brief 4.  The Court of Appeals rejected Saxon’s indus-
trywide approach, see 993 F. 3d, at 497, and so do we.