Page:Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters.pdf/27

6 complex matters—given that its decisions are subject to review in federal court—“it must assuredly be the first.” Marine Engineers v. Interlake S. S. Co., 370 U. S. 173, 185 (1962) (emphasis added).

For that reason, this Court has long held that courts presented with claims arising out of a labor dispute must sometimes pause their proceedings to permit the Board to consider the dispute in the first instance. As relevant here, we have held that if §7—including its protection of the right to strike—“arguably” protects the conduct at issue in a state-court suit, then the court must await the Board’s word as to whether the conduct is, in fact, protected. Garmon, 359 U. S., at 245.

To determine whether conduct is “arguably protected,” a state court examines the showing of the party invoking Garmon and seeking to pause the litigation. The court asks whether that party has (1) “advance[d] an interpretation of the [NLRA] that is not plainly contrary to its language and that has not been ‘authoritatively rejected’ by the courts or the Board,” and (2) “put forth enough evidence to enable the court to find that the Board reasonably could uphold a claim based on such an interpretation.” Longshoremen v. Davis, 476 U. S. 380, 395 (1986). If so, the state court must pause proceedings to allow the Board to consider the complex legal and factual contours of the question whether the union’s conduct is actually protected by the NLRA.

The majority refers to this as “Garmon preemption,” in keeping with historical practice. But the term “preemption” is something of a misnomer. Rather than entirely and automatically precluding the state-court suit, the rule instead requires state courts to take a “jurisdictional hiatus” while the Board considers the dispute in the first instance. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 436 U. S., at 203. If the Board determines (subject to judicial review) that §7 protects the union’s conduct, normal conflict preemption kicks in: A state court may not hold a union liable on state-law