Plea bargaining in the United States
The constitutionality of plea bargaining was established by "Brady v. United States" in 1970, although the Supreme Court warned that plea incentives which were sufficiently large or coercive as to over-rule defendants' abilities to act freely, or used in a manner giving rise to a significant number of innocent people pleading guilty, might be prohibited or lead to concerns over constitutionality. "Santobello v. New York" added that when plea bargains are broken, legal remedies exist.
Shearson/American Express Inc. v. McMahon
Turning to the plaintiffs' arguments, he wrote, "these contentions are frivolous, and flaunt the agreement, the Arbitration Act, and the mandate of the Supreme Court." The 1985 notice was proper because according to the agreement the requirement to arbitrate was triggered by the mere occurrence of a controversy, not any formal proceedings. "The pendency of an action does not stay arbitration, but instead forces a demand and application by defendants to compel arbitration and "to stay the trial" pending arbitration ... Plaintiffs' imposition of such a condition without an order staying the arbitration and preserving the exercise of the right to select an arbitrator, was simply a unilateral, futile, and legally unjustifiable attempt to change the terms of the agreement."