Page:Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski.pdf/5

2 arbitration. Coinbase then filed an interlocutory appeal to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit under 9 U. S. C. §16(a). Section 16(a) authorizes an interlocutory appeal from the denial of a motion to compel arbitration.

Coinbase also moved to stay District Court proceedings pending resolution of the arbitrability issue on appeal. The District Court declined to stay its proceedings. After receiving Coinbase’s motion for a stay, the Ninth Circuit likewise declined to stay the District Court’s proceedings. The Ninth Circuit followed its precedent, under which an appeal from the denial of a motion to compel arbitration does not automatically stay district court proceedings. See Britton v. Co-op Banking Group, 916 F. 2d 1405, 1412 (1990). By contrast, however, most other Courts of Appeals to address the question have held that a district court must stay its proceedings while the interlocutory appeal on the question of arbitrability is ongoing. E.g., Bradford-Scott Data Corp. v. Physician Computer Network, Inc., 128 F. 3d 504, 506 (CA7 1997).

To resolve that disagreement among the Courts of Appeals, we granted certiorari. 598 U. S. ___ (2022).

The Federal Arbitration Act governs arbitration agreements. In 1988, Congress passed and President Reagan signed an amendment to the Act; the amendment is codified at 9 U. S. C. §16(a). Under §16(a), when a