Concerning Preemption: Upholding Consent under the Federal Arbitration Act Note

AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion represents the latest failed effort by a state to assert some level of control over consensual arbitration agreements. It also represents an affirmation by the U.S. Supreme Court of a long-standing notion that arbitration agreements, standing on equal footing with other contracts, must be enforced according to their terms-holding consent to be the paramount consideration in judicial analysis. This note will examine the lengthy history of the FAA\u27s preemptive power under the Supremacy Clause, explore the U.S. Supreme Court\u27s time-honored rationale for choosing when to exercise its preemptive powers to invalidate state law, and evaluate potential implications resulting from the Supreme Court\u27s recent decision to preempt state law efforts to invalidate class-action waiver provisions found in arbitration agreements