Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-893.pdf
Page Number: 34.0

Cite as:  563 U. S. ____ (2011) 

7 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

patible with arbitration itself, then on what basis can the
majority hold California’s law pre-empted?

For  another  thing,  the  majority’s  argument  that  the 

Discover  Bank  rule  will  discourage  arbitration  rests  criti­
cally upon the wrong comparison.  The majority compares
the  complexity  of  class  arbitration  with  that  of  bilateral
arbitration.  See ante, at 14.  And it finds the former more 
complex.  See  ibid.  But,  if  incentives  are  at  issue,  the 
relevant  comparison  is  not  “arbitration  with  arbitration”
but  a  comparison  between  class  arbitration  and  judicial
class  actions.  After  all,  in  respect  to  the  relevant  set  of 
contracts,  the  Discover  Bank  rule  similarly  and  equally 
sets  aside  clauses  that  forbid  class  procedures—whether 
arbitration procedures or ordinary judicial procedures are 
at issue. 

Why would a typical defendant (say, a business) prefer a
judicial  class  action  to  class  arbitration?  AAA  statistics 
“suggest that class arbitration proceedings take more time 
than  the  average  commercial  arbitration,  but  may  take 
less  time  than  the  average  class  action  in  court.”    AAA 
Amicus  Brief  24  (emphasis  added).    Data  from  California 
courts  confirm  that  class  arbitrations  can  take  considera­
bly  less  time  than  in-court  proceedings  in  which  class 
certification  is  sought.  Compare  ante,  at  14  (providing
statistics  for  class  arbitration),  with  Judicial  Council  of 
California,  Administrative  Office  of  the  Courts,  Class 
Certification  in  California:  Second  Interim  Report  from
the  Study  of  California  Class  Action  Litigation  18  (2010) 
(providing statistics for class-action litigation in California 
courts).  And  a  single  class  proceeding  is  surely  more 
efficient  than  thousands  of  separate  proceedings  for  iden­
tical  claims.  Thus,  if  speedy  resolution  of  disputes  were
all  that  mattered,  then  the  Discover  Bank  rule  would 
reinforce, not obstruct, that objective of the Act. 

The  majority’s  related  claim  that  the  Discover  Bank 
rule  will  discourage  the  use  of  arbitration  because