Citizens Bank v. Alafabco, Inc., 539 U.S. 52, 7 (2003) (per curiam)

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58

CITIZENS BANK v. ALAFABCO, INC.

Per Curiam

lar economic transactions in which the parties were engaged, that doubt would dissipate upon consideration of the "general practice" those transactions represent. Mandeville Island Farms, supra, at 236. No elaborate explanation is needed to make evident the broad impact of commercial lending on the national economy or Congress' power to regulate that activity pursuant to the Commerce Clause. Lewis v. BT Investment Managers, Inc., 447 U. S. 27, 38-39 (1980) ("[B]anking and related financial activities are of profound local concern. . . . Nonetheless, it does not follow that these same activities lack important interstate attributes"); Perez, supra, at 154-155 ("Extortionate credit transactions, though purely intrastate, may in the judgment of Congress affect interstate commerce").

The decision below therefore adheres to an improperly cramped view of Congress' Commerce Clause power. That view, first announced by the Supreme Court of Alabama in Sisters of the Visitation v. Cochran Plastering Co., 775 So. 2d 759 (2000), appears to rest on a misreading of our decision in United States v. Lopez, 514 U. S. 549 (1995). Lopez did not restrict the reach of the FAA or implicitly overrule Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos.—indeed, we did not discuss that case in Lopez. Nor did Lopez purport to announce a new rule governing Congress' Commerce Clause power over concededly economic activity such as the debt-restructuring agreements before us now. 514 U. S., at 561. To be sure, "the power to regulate commerce, though broad indeed, has limits," Maryland v. Wirtz, supra, at 196, but nothing in our decision in Lopez suggests that those limits are breached by applying the FAA to disputes arising out of the commercial loan transactions in this case.

Accordingly, the petition for writ of certiorari is granted, the judgment of the Supreme Court of Alabama is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

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