Originally from Law and Practice of Arbitration - 4th Edition

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At the outset, the U.S. Supreme Court's decisional commitment to arbitration was faint--tentative murmurings in an undercurrent that was barely discernable in the turbulent river of case rulings.1 Moreover, the barrier of subject-matter inarbitrability was firmly in place--its regulatory impact demonstrated in the sale of securities.2 Nevertheless, the Court was taking advantage of each opportunity and working steadily to build a solid foundation for the supremacy of federal arbitration law. It concluded that the winds of the Commerce Clause pushed federal diversity courts and, then, state tribunals to apply the provisions of the FAA. In fact, the federal directive on arbitration was to become a veritable force of nature--a jurisdictional whirlwind that leveled contrary provisions in other parts of the legal system.3