Cite as: 532 U. S. 105 (2001)
Stevens, J., dissenting
pass employment contracts by expressly exempting the labor agreements not only of "seamen" and "railroad employees," but also of "any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce." 9 U. S. C. § 1 (emphasis added). Today, however, the Court fulfills the original—and originally unfounded—fears of organized labor by essentially rewriting the text of § 1 to exclude the employment contracts solely of "seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of [transportation] workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce." See ante, at 119. In contrast, whether one views the legislation before or after the amendment to § 1, it is clear that it was not intended to apply to employment contracts at all.
II
A quarter century after the FAA was passed, many Courts of Appeals were presented with the question whether collective-bargaining agreements were "contracts of employment" for purposes of § 1's exclusion. The courts split over that question, with at least the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Circuits answering in the affirmative,9 and the First and Sixth Circuits answering in the negative.10 Most of these cases neither involved employees engaged in transportation nor turned on whether the workers were so occupied. Indeed, the general assumption seemed to be, as the Sixth Circuit stated early on, that § 1 "was deliberately worded by the Congress to exclude from the [FAA] all contracts of employ-9 Lincoln Mills of Ala. v. Textile Workers, 230 F. 2d 81, 86 (CA5 1956), rev'd on other grounds, 353 U. S. 448 (1957); Electrical Workers v. Miller Metal Products, Inc., 215 F. 2d 221, 224 (CA4 1954); Electric R. and Motor Coach Employees v. Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines, Inc., 192 F. 2d 310, 313 (CA3 1951). Apparently, two other Circuits shared this view. See Mercury Oil Refining Co. v. Oil Workers, 187 F. 2d 980, 983 (CA10 1951); Shirley-Herman Co. v. Hod Carriers, 182 F. 2d 806, 809 (CA2 1950).
10 Electrical Workers v. General Elec. Co., 233 F. 2d 85, 100 (CA1 1956), aff'd on other grounds, 353 U. S. 547 (1957); Hoover Motor Express Co., Inc. v. Teamsters, 217 F. 2d 49, 53 (CA6 1954).
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