Anthony Kennedy

“ It would be undesirable for Wilko and McMahon to exist side by side because their inconsistency is at odds with the principle that the 1933 and 1934 Acts be construed harmoniously in order to discourage litigants from manipulating their allegations merely to cast their claims under one rather than the other securities law. ”

“ Petitioners, securities investors, signed a standard customer agreement which included an agreement to settle account disputes through binding arbitration unless the agreement was found unenforceable under fede al or state law. When the investments turned sour, petitioners brought suit in the District Court against, inter alias, respondent brokerage firm, alleging that their money was lost in unauthorized and fraudulent transactions in violation of, among other things, the provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. ”