Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson

This decision supports enforcement of a delegation provision assigning gateway questions of an arbitration agreement’s enforceability to the arbitrator only where the delegation language is clear and unmistakable, the resisting party’s challenge is framed solely against the arbitration agreement as a whole rather than specifically against the delegation provision itself under FAA § 2, and any purported delegation-specific challenge is not timely raised or preserved at the district court level. The Court’s reasoning is posture-dependent and turns on how the challenge was characterized and when it was asserted; if the clarity of the delegation language is disputed, a specific challenge to the delegation provision’s validity is timely raised and preserved, or the framing or timing of the challenge itself is contested, Rent-A-Center no longer supports enforcing the delegation without judicial examination of that provision and resolution of the targeted challenge before compelling arbitration.