U.S. SUPREME COURT REQUESTS ADVICE FROM SOLICITOR GENERAL TO ASSIST IN CERT DECISION ON FAA CASE
The United States Supreme Court has invited the U.S. Solicitor General to file a brief in an arbitration case in order to assist the Court in deciding whether to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari. The case, which is the subject of a December 7, 2009 Special Focus post in this blog, presents an FAA jurisdictional question with implications for an international treaty. Petitioners are seeking review of a Fifth Circuit decision, which held that the McCarren Ferguson Act of 1945 does not authorize state law to ‘reverse-preempt’ the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards or its implementing legislation (Convention Act). The Court has asked the Solicitor General to offer the government’s views on whether the FAA is a federal law that seeks to regulate insurance, and thus overrides any conflicting state law on insurance regulation. Louisiana Safety Association of Timberman Self Insurers Fund v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London, No. 09-945.
This post written by Lynn Hawkins.
