The Court held in an 8-1 decision that the ordinary four-factor Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council test applies.

The Fourth, Seventh, Eight, and Ninth Circuits had held that the NLRB needed to satisfy the Winter test, whereas the Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits had held that the NLRB only needed to show "reasonable cause to believe that unfair labor practices have occurred" and that an injunctions would be "just and proper".

Starbucks said that it fired them because they had violated company rules by bringing a television crew into the store after hours.

The workers, who called themselves the Memphis Seven, claimed that Starbucks had selectively enforced its policy to retaliate against them for their legally protected union-organizing, filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

Text of Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney, 602 U.S. ___ (2024) is available from: Cornell Google Scholar Justia Oyez (oral argument audio) Supreme Court (slip opinion)