29 U.S.C. § 178
Section 178 · Injunctions during national emergency
This is § 208 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Act)
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 52 court decisions — leading case Garner v. Teamsters, Chauffeurs & Helpers Local Union No. 776 (1954)
Most recently applied in Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney (June 2024)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Upon receiving a report from a board of inquiry the President may direct the Attorney General to petition any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties to enjoin such strike or lock-out or the continuing thereof, and if the court finds that such threatened or actual strike or lock-out—
(i) affects an entire industry or a substantial part thereof engaged in trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or with foreign nations, or engaged in the production of goods for commerce; and
(ii) if permitted to occur or to continue, will imperil the national health or safety, it shall have jurisdiction to enjoin any such strike or lockout, or the continuing thereof, and to make such other orders as may be appropriate.
In any case, the provisions of chapter 6 of this title shall not be applicable.
The order or orders of the court shall be subject to review by the appropriate United States court of appeals and by the Supreme Court upon writ of certiorari or certification as provided in section 1254 of title 28.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Chapter 6 (§101 et seq.) of this title, referred to in subsec. (b), is a reference to act Mar. 23, 1932, ch. 90, 47 Stat. 70, popularly known as the Norris-LaGuardia Act.
Codification
In subsec. (c), “court of appeals” substituted for “circuit court of appeals” on authority of act June 25, 1948, as amended by act May 24, 1949. The words “United States” immediately preceding “Court of appeals” were inserted on authority of section 43 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
In subsec. (c), “section 1254 of title 28” substituted for “sections 239 and 240 of the Judicial Code, as amended (U.S.C. title 28, secs. 346 and 347)” on authority of act June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 869, section 1 of which enacted Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.