15 U.S.C. § 17
Section 17 · Antitrust laws not applicable to labor organizations
This is § 6 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 1,067 court decisions — leading case Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. (1991)
Most recently applied in Becky's Broncos, LLC v. Town of Nantucket (May 2025)
Applied most in the Third Circuit Circuit (74 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 15 U.S.C. § 1 · 15 U.S.C. § 15 · 29 U.S.C. § 52
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.
The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce. Nothing contained in the antitrust laws shall be construed to forbid the existence and operation of labor, agricultural, or horticultural organizations, instituted for the purposes of mutual help, and not having capital stock or conducted for profit, or to forbid or restrain individual members of such organizations from lawfully carrying out the legitimate objects thereof; nor shall such organizations, or the members thereof, be held or construed to be illegal combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade, under the antitrust laws.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The antitrust laws, referred to in text, are defined in section 12 of this title.
Cross References
Jurisdiction to restrain violations of restrictions on payments to employee representatives without regard to section, see section 186 of Title 29, Labor.
Restriction of injunctive relief in labor actions, see sections 52 and 107 of Title 29.