Kavanaugh 1st Opinion Is Unanimous, Resolves Narrow Question

Justice Brett Kavanaugh has written his first majority opinion for the Supreme Court, a unanimous decision in an arbitration case.

Kavanaugh's eight-page opinion Tuesday resolves a narrow question in a dispute between two businesses in a soured relationship involving dental equipment.

The case involved whether the dispute would head to arbitration or a lawsuit, and who would decide which path.

The court is not answering those questions, but it is rejecting a lower-court ruling in favor of a lawsuit. Kavanaugh says courts must stick to the text of the Federal Arbitration Act and "are not at liberty to rewrite the statute passed by Congress and signed by the President."

Kavanaugh's is the first opinion to be issued from the two-week session of the court that began in late October.