686
Opinion of the Court
"States may regulate contracts, including arbitration clauses, under general contract law principles and they may invalidate an arbitration clause 'upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.' 9 U. S. C. § 2 (emphasis added). What States may not do is decide that a contract is fair enough to enforce all its basic terms (price, service, credit), but not fair enough to enforce its arbitration clause. The Act makes any such state policy unlawful, for that kind of policy would place arbitration clauses on an unequal 'footing,' directly contrary to the Act's language and Congress's intent." 513 U. S., at 281.
On remand, without inviting or permitting further briefing or oral argument,2 the Montana Supreme Court adhered to its original ruling. The court stated: "After careful review, we can find nothing in the [Allied-Bruce] decision which relates to the issues presented to this Court in this case." Casarotto v. Lombardi, 274 Mont. 3, 7, 901 P. 2d 596, 598 (1995). Elaborating, the Montana court said it found "no suggestion in [Allied-Bruce] that the principles from Volt on which we relied [to uphold § 27-5-114(4)] have been modified in any way." Id., at 8, 901 P. 2d, at 598-599. We again granted certiorari, 516 U. S. 1036 (1996), and now reverse.
II
Section 2 of the FAA provides that written arbitration agreements "shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract." 9 U. S. C. § 2 (emphasis added). Repeating our observation in Perry, the text of § 2 declares that state law may be applied "if that law arose to govern issues
2 Dissenting Justice Gray thought it "cavalier" of her colleagues to ignore the defendants' request for an "opportunity to brief the issues raised by the . . . remand and to present oral argument." Casarotto v. Lombardi, 274 Mont. 3, 9-10, 901 P. 2d 596, 599-600 (1995).
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