The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) was originally enacted in 1925 to overcome the American judiciary’s longstanding refusal to enforce agreements to arbitrate disputes, and to place such agreements on the same basis as other contracts. See Allied-Bruce Terminix v. Dobson, 513 U.S. 265, 270-71 (1995).

For nearly 60 years after the FAA was enacted, the U.S. Supreme Court left the enforceability of arbitration agreements largely undisturbed. However, beginning in the 1980s, the Supreme Court began a shift toward an expansive interpretation of the FAA and stricter enforceability of arbitration agreements.