AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion and the Antidiscrimination Theory of FAA Preemption

Abstract

This paper offers an alternative interpretation and critique of AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011). The received wisdom is that Concepcion takes to unwarranted extremes two policies underlying Federal arbitration law: the policy to respect arbitration's status as a "creature of contract," and the policy to favor arbitration. In the main, commentators have argued that these policies have been over-exaggerated and have no sound foundation in the Federal Arbitration Act.I offer a different account of Concepcion. In my view, Concepcion signals not a magnification of the traditional justifications for FAA preemption but rather a break from them. The case brings to the fore what I have elsewhere described as the antidiscrimination model of FAA preemption. Understanding how that model played out during the litigation of Concepcion and how it undergirds the majority opinion, I argue, provides a more comprehensive basis for critiquing Concepcion and its implications for future FAA preemption cases.