U.S. Supreme Court: Federal Arbitration Act preempts state law

In a case widely followed because one of the parties is television personality "Judge Alex" Ferrer, the U.S. Supreme Court today bolstered the federal policy favoring arbitration.  The court held in Preston v. Ferrer that, where a contract provides for arbitration of disputes, a state cannot require that an administrative agency initially determine the contract's validity.  The Federal Arbitration Act preempts California's Talent Agencies Act to the extent that the state statute directs the state labor commissioner to determine the validity of a talent agency agreement, where that agreement includes an arbitration clause.