Federal Arbitration Act

United States Arbitration Act
Long title	An Act To make valid and enforceable written provisions or agreements for arbitration of disputes arising out of contracts, maritime transactions, or commerce among the States or Territories or with foreign nations
Acronyms (colloquial)	FAA
Nicknames	Federal Arbitration Act
Enacted by	the 68th United States Congress
Effective	January 1, 1926
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 68–401
Statutes at Large	ch. 213, 43 Stat. 883
Legislative history
	Signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge on February 12, 1925;
United States Supreme Court cases
	List Wilko v. Swan, 346 U.S. 427 (1953); Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Manufacturing Co., 388 U.S. 395 (1967); Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp., 460 U.S. 1 (1983); Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U.S. 1 (1984); Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. v. Byrd, 470 U.S. 213 (1985); Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 473 U.S. 614 (1985); Shearson/American Express Inc. v. McMahon, 482 U.S. 220 (1987); Perry v. Thomas, 482 U.S. 483 (1987); Volt Inf. Sciences v. Stanford Univ., 489 U.S. 468 (1989); Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/American Express Inc., 490 U.S. 477 (1989); Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20 (1991); Graham Oil v. ARCO Products Co., 43 F. 3d 1244 (9th Cir. 1994); Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos. v. Dobson, 513 U.S. 265 (1995); Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., 514 U.S. 52 (1995); First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan, 514 U.S. 938 (1995); Doctor's Associates, Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U.S. 681 (1996); Eastern Associated Coal Corp. v. United Mine Workers of America, 531 U.S. 57 (2000); Green Tree Financial Corp.-Ala. v. Randolph, 531 U.S. 79 (2000); Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams, 532 U.S. 105 (2001); C & L Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizen Band, Potawatomi Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, 532 U.S. 411 (2001); Major League Baseball Players Assn. v. Garvey, 532 U.S. 504 (2001); EEOC v. Waffle House, Inc., 534 U.S. 279 (2002); Howsam v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., 537 U.S. 79 (2002); PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc. v. Book, 538 U.S. 401 (2003); Citizens Bank v. Alafabco, Inc., 539 U.S. 52 (2003); Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna, 546 U.S. 440 (2006); Preston v. Ferrer, 552 U.S. 346 (2008); Hall Street Associates, L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc., 552 U.S. 576 (2008); Vaden v. Discover Bank, 556 U.S. 49 (2009); 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, 556 U.S. 247 (2009); Arthur Andersen LLP v. Carlisle, 556 U.S. 624 (2009); Stolt-Nielsen S. A. v. AnimalFeeds Int'l Corp., 559 U.S. 662 (2010); Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson, 561 U.S. 63 (2010); Granite Rock Co. v. Teamsters, 561 U.S. 287 (2010); AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011); KPMG LLP v. Cocchi, 565 U.S. 18 (2011); CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood, 565 U.S. 95 (2012); Marmet Health Care Center, Inc. v. Brown, 565 U.S. 530 (2012); Nitro-Lift Technologies, L. L. C. v. Howard, 568 U.S. 17 (2012); Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, 569 U.S. 564 (2013); Am. Express Co. v. Italian Colors Rest., 570 U.S. 228 (2013); DIRECTV, Inc. v. Imburgia, No. 14-462, 577 U.S. ___ (2015); Kindred Nursing Centers, L. P. v. Clark, No. 16-32, 581 U.S. ___ (2017); Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, No. 16-285, 584 U.S. ___ (2018); Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc., No. 17-1272, 586 U.S. ___ (2019); New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, No. 17-340, 586 U.S. ___ (2019); Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, No. 17-988, 587 U.S. ___ (2019); GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC, No. 18-1048, 590 U.S. ___ (2020); Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc., No. 19-963, 592 U.S. ___ (2021); Badgerow v. Walters, No. 20-1143, 596 U.S. ___ (2022); Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., No. 21-328, 596 U.S. ___ (2022); Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, No. 21-309, 596 U.S. ___ (2022); Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, No. 20-1573, 596 U.S. ___ (2022); Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski, No. 22-105, 599 U.S. ___ (2023); Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC, No. 23-51, 601 U.S. ___ (2024); Smith v. Spizzirri, No. 22-1218, 601 U.S. ___ (2024); Coinbase, Inc. v. Suski, No. 23-3, 602 U.S. ___ (2024);

The United States Arbitration Act (Pub. L. 68–401, 43 Stat. 883, enacted February 12, 1925, codified at 9 U.S.C. ch. 1), more commonly referred to as the Federal Arbitration Act or FAA, is an act of Congress that provides for non-judicial facilitation of private dispute resolution through arbitration. It applies in both state courts and federal courts, as was held in Southland Corp. v. Keating. It applies in all contracts, excluding contracts of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers involved in foreign or interstate commerce, and it is predicated on an exercise of the Commerce Clause powers granted to Congress in the U.S. Constitution.

The FAA provides for contract-based compulsory and binding arbitration, resulting in an arbitration award entered by an arbitrator or arbitration panel as opposed to a judgment entered by a court of law. In an arbitration, the parties give up the right to an appeal on substantive grounds to a court.

Once an award is entered by an arbitrator or arbitration panel, it must be "confirmed" in a court of law; and once confirmed, the award is reduced to an enforceable judgment, which may be enforced by the winning party in court, like any other judgment. Under the FAA, an award must be confirmed within one year, and any objection to an award must be challenged by the losing party within three months. An arbitration agreement may be entered "prospectively" (ie., in advance of any actual dispute), or may be entered into by the disputing parties once a dispute has arisen.