Senator Reverend Warnock is a champion for consumer rights and fairness 

The FAIR Act includes several priorities championed by Senator Warnock, including ensuring consumers have access to justice in the courts

Senator Reverend Warnock: “Georgians deserve to have access to justice, and I’m going to fight to pass the FAIR Act to protect those rights.”

Washington, D.C. –– Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) introduced the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act. This bill will reestablish Americans’ Seventh Amendment right to seek justice and accountability through the court system, eliminating forced arbitration clauses in employment, consumer, and civil rights cases. Rather than forcing arbitration, the FAIR Act would allow consumers and workers to choose between arbitration and the court system after a dispute occurs.

“Georgian consumers deserve to have fair access to seeking justice, and I’m going to fight to pass the FAIR Act to protect those rights,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “The FAIR Act ensures consumers have access to justice in the courts, a crucial component of a fair justice system.”

Forced arbitration clauses restrict Americans’ access to justice by taking away consumers’ rights to pursue a trial by jury or to join a class action lawsuit. Consumers with disputes are forced into private, closed-door arbitration proceedings that are not only inconvenient and costly, but are also ones in which consumers rarely prevail. There is no meaningful judicial review, so consumers are often unable to appeal a decision even if the arbitrator gets it wrong.

As the ranking member of the Economic Policy subcommittee in the Senate Committee on Banking, Senator Warnock is committed to ensuring that Georgians are protected from unfair, abusive, and deceptive acts and practices in our financial system. In 2022, he co-sponsored the Arbitration Fairness for Consumers Act, which would prohibit banks and other financial institutions from using forced arbitration clauses against consumers seeking justice in the courts.

Along with Senator Warnock, the legislation was cosponsored by Representative Hank Johnson (GA-04) and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-W), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

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