Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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I. INTRODUCTION

The 1994-1995 Term of the U.S. Supreme Court was a "happy" event for the American law of arbitration. The Court heard and ruled upon no fewer than four arbitration cases. Prior to these most recent pronouncements, the Court's decisional law on arbitration was already extensive and appeared well-settled.[1] The "emphatic federal policy favoring arbitration" was neither equivocal nor ambiguous.[2] Moreover, arbitration hardly has a glaring public law dimension. A subject matter like arbitration usually does not receive significant, let alone disproportionate, judicial consideration, especially in a constitutional forum.[3] Arbitral proceedings are a commercial remedy; they involve rules of procedure.[4] It was, therefore, surprising that the Court should dedicate such a large part of its coveted decisional agenda to the birthing of yet more arbitration law.