United States v. American Trucking Associations, 310 U.S. 534 (1940), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case which marked a shift from evaluating the "plain meaning" of statutes to a judicial effort to determine "legislative intent."
American Trucking Associations had sought to compel the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate all employees of trucking industries, rather than simply those whose job has an impact on safety. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) included an exemption to employees regulated by the ICC under the Motor Carrier Act of 1935. By compelling the ICC to recognize all trucking employees as within its power to regulate, such employees would be exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the FLSA.
The court decided that ICC's interpretation of the statute, which limited its power only to those employees who have an impact on safety, was correct.
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