Thank you very much for your kind words and support. And congratulations on your well-deserved election as a Fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators (http://www.acctm.org/index.cfm).

I think Stolt-Nielsen epitomizes the type of case whose outcome might be influenced by possible concern on the part of the Court about the Arbitration Fairness Act, a point you discussed in your recent article for the International Institute on Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) (http://www.cpradr.org) about the Court’s reluctance to hear cases involving state law challenges based on unconscionability. It may be that certain members of the Court may be concerned that Congress will be more inclined to enact the Arbitration Fairness Act in the event the Court rules that the Stolt-Nielsen arbitrators acted outside the scope of their authority in finding that class arbitration was appropriate. It remains to be seen whether that concern will carry the day, but its presumed existence is an important consideration in trying to divine the outcome here.

I hope you enjoy the remainder of this series!

Phil

You continue to do a marvelous job covering this case, the only arbitration case before the Court this term.

Many thanks for your insightful and very thorough analysis — from cert petition, to argument, and certainly the opinion when it comes down.

Don