The Supreme Court and the White House Just Changed Everything for Freight Brokers, NVOCCs, Customs Brokers, Freight Forwarders, and Warehouse Operators
Key takeaways
- On May 22, 2026, the United States Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in Montgomery v.
- They exposed problems that already existed and handed plaintiffs’ attorneys and federal prosecutors the tools to act on them.
- The question every logistics operator should be asking right now is not whether they are compliant.
The Supreme Court and the White House Just Changed Everything for Freight Brokers, NVOCCs, Customs Brokers, Freight Forwarders, and Warehouse Operators (Photo: Shutterstock) Contributed Content Tue, June 23, 2026 at 11:05 PM GMT+7 8 min read (The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Freight Waves or its affiliates.)
On May 22, 2026, the United States Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that removed a legal shield freight brokers have relied on for decades. Eleven days later, a White House Executive Order extended compliance obligations across the entire logistics chain — targeting forced labor, misclassification, undervaluation, and illegal transshipment with criminal enforcement authority.
These two events did not create new problems. They exposed problems that already existed and handed plaintiffs’ attorneys and federal prosecutors the tools to act on them.