The right to a jury trial, enshrined in the Seventh Amendment, is being assailed on many fronts. We have previously written about the way in which that right was being abridged by the proliferation of the statutory immunities. Now we address another affront: the proliferation of mandatory arbitration.

Unbeknownst to most Americans, they waive their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in an alarming number of internet applications, service agreements and employment contracts. Fifty-five percent of American workers (60 million) have given up their right to a jury trial just to have a job, because they have signed mandatory arbitration agreements.