56
Per Curiam
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).
The statute further defines "commerce" to include "commerce among the several States." § 1. Echoing Justice See's dissenting opinion, petitioner contends that the decision below gives inadequate breadth to the "involving commerce" language of the statute. We agree.
We have interpreted the term "involving commerce" in the FAA as the functional equivalent of the more familiar term "affecting commerce"—words of art that ordinarily signal the broadest permissible exercise of Congress' Commerce Clause power. Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos., 513 U. S., at 273-274. Because the statute provides for "the enforcement of arbitration agreements within the full reach of the Commerce Clause," Perry v. Thomas, 482 U. S. 483, 490 (1987), it is perfectly clear that the FAA encompasses a wider range of transactions than those actually "in commerce"—that is, "within the flow of interstate commerce," Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos., supra, at 273 (internal quotation marks, citation, and emphasis omitted).
The Supreme Court of Alabama was therefore misguided in its search for evidence that a "portion of the restructured debt was actually attributable to interstate transactions" or that the loans "originated out-of-state" or that "the restructured debt was inseparable from any out-of-state projects." 872 So. 2d, at 805. Such evidence might be required if the FAA were restricted to transactions actually " 'in commerce,' " Gulf Oil Corp. v. Copp Paving Co., 419 U. S. 186, 195-196 (1974), but, as we have explained, that is not the limit of the FAA's reach.
Nor is application of the FAA defeated because the individual debt-restructuring transactions, taken alone, did not have a "substantial effect on interstate commerce." 872 So. 2d, at 803. Congress' Commerce Clause power "may be exercised in individual cases without showing any
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007