Uber Technologies, Inc., and Portier, LLC v. City of Seattle

On March 18, 2025, Public Rights Project filed an amicus brief in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the City of Seattle in a case related to workers’ rights and disclosures. The cities of Portland, Ore., and San Diego, Calif. joined the brief.

App-based companies Uber and Instacart sued Seattle over a law that requires companies to give workers 14 days’ notice before they are deactivated from their platform. The companies claim the law violates the First Amendment.

Our brief explains the well-established practice by cities and states to regulate economic activity to protect the public. We argue that lawmakers are permitted to enact policies that ensure workers and others are informed of their rights and of a company’s internal policies. We note that requiring companies to issue disclosures to notify workers is common across a variety of sectors, including child care and higher education.

The brief urges the court to affirm the district court’s previous ruling that regulation of economic activity is not a violation of the First Amendment.

Read the brief.

Update:

On June 15, 2026, Public Rights Project filed an amicus brief urging the Ninth Circuit to reject Uber, Portier, and Instacart’s request to reconsider a recent ruling that upheld Seattle’s authority to protect app-based workers from unfair deactivation.

A panel of Ninth Circuit judges recently ruled in favor of Seattle’s deactivation ordinance, protecting drivers and other app-based workers from arbitrary and unreasonable deactivation. They found that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to standard economic regulations.The brief explains the well-established practice by cities, states, and the federal government to regulate economic activity to protect the public, citing previous decisions about long-settled principles of First Amendment protections. We argue that lawmakers are permitted to enact policies that ensure workers and others are protected as well as informed of their rights and of a company’s internal policies. These kinds of worker disclosures are common across a variety of sectors, including child care and higher education.

The brief urges the court to deny a rehearing because the First Amendment should not apply to commonplace regulation of economic activity.

Read the brief.