Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski

Summary

A district court must stay its proceedings while an interlocutory appeal taken pursuant to 9 U. S. C. §16(a) on the question of arbitrability is ongoing.

Text

PRELIMINARY PRINT 
Volume 599 U. S. Part 1 
Pages 736–761 
OFFICIAL REPORTS 
OF 
THE SUPREME COURT 
June 23, 2023 
REBECCA A. WOMELDORF 
reporter of decisions 
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NOTICE: This preliminary print is subject to formal revision before 
the bound volume is published. Users are requested to notify the Reporter 
of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C. 20543, 
[email protected], of any typographical or other formal errors.

736 OCTOBER TERM, 2022 
Syllabus 
COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for 
the ninth circuit 
No. 22–105. Argued March 21, 2023—Decided June 23, 2023 
Abraham Bielski fled a putative class action on behalf of Coinbase users 
alleging that Coinbase, an online currency platform, failed to replace 
funds fraudulently taken from the users' accounts. Because Coinbase's 
User Agreement provides for dispute resolution through binding arbi-
tration, Coinbase fled a motion to compel arbitration. The District 
Court denied the motion. Coinbase then fled an interlocutory appeal 
to the Ninth Circuit under the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U. S. C. § 16(a), 
which authorizes an interlocutory appeal from the denial of a motion to 
compel arbitration. Coinbase also moved the District Court to stay its 
proceedings pending resolution of the interlocutory appeal. The Dis-
trict Court denied Coinbase's stay motion, and the Ninth Circuit like-
wise declined to stay the District Court's proceedings pending appeal. 
Held: A district court must stay its proceedings while an interlocutory 
appeal on the question of arbitrability is ongoing. Pp. 740–747. 
(a) Section 16(a) does not say whether district court proceedings must 
be stayed pending resolution of an interlocutory appeal. But Congress 
enacted the provision against a clear background principle prescribed 
by this Court's precedents: An appeal, including an interlocutory appeal, 
“divests the district court of its control over those aspects of the case 
involved in the appeal.” Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co., 
459 U. S. 56, 58. The Griggs principle resolves this case. Because the 
question on appeal is whether the case belongs in arbitration or instead 
in the district court, the entire case is essentially “involved in the ap-
peal,” id., at 58, and Griggs dictates that the district court stay its pro-
ceedings while the interlocutory appeal on arbitrability is ongoing. 
Most courts of appeals to address this question, as well as leading trea-
tises, agree with that conclusion. 
The common practice of staying district court proceedings during the 
pendency of an interlocutory appeal taken under § 16(a) refects common 
sense. If the district court could move forward with pre-trial and trial 
proceedings while the appeal on arbitrability was ongoing, then many 
of the asserted benefts of arbitration (effciency, less expense, less intru-
sive discovery, and the like) would be irretrievably lost—even if the 
court of appeals later concluded that the case actually had belonged in 
arbitration all along. Absent a stay, parties also could be forced to 
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Syllabus 
settle to avoid the district court proceedings (including discovery and 
trial) that they contracted to avoid through arbitration. The Griggs 
rule avoids these detrimental results. 
Congress's longstanding practice reflects the Griggs rule. Given 
Griggs, when Congress wants to authorize an interlocutory appeal and 
to automatically stay the district court proceedings during that appeal, 
Congress ordinarily need not say anything about a stay. By contrast, 
when Congress wants to authorize an interlocutory appeal, but not to 
automatically stay district court proceedings pending that appeal, Con-
gress typically says so. Since the creation of the modern courts of 
appeals system in 1891, Congress has enacted multiple statutory “non-
stay” provisions. Pp. 740–744. 
(b) Bielski's arguments to overcome the Griggs principle are unper-
suasive. First, the courts of appeals possess robust tools to prevent 
unwarranted delay and deter frivolous interlocutory appeals that an au-
tomatic stay might otherwise encourage. Second, Congress included 
explicit stay requirements in two other statutory provisions for reasons 
particular to those statutes, not because Congress thought that an in-
terlocutory appeal did not ordinarily stay district court proceedings. 
Third, the result here does not create a special, arbitration-preferring 
procedural rule, but simply subjects arbitrability appeals to the same 
stay principles that courts apply in other analogous contexts where an 
interlocutory appeal is authorized. Fourth, experience shows that ordi-
nary discretionary stay factors would not adequately protect parties' 
rights to an interlocutory appellate determination of arbitrability. In 
any event, the background Griggs rule applies regardless of how often 
courts might otherwise grant stays under the ordinary discretionary 
stay factors. Fifth, while the Court has recognized that questions of 
arbitrability are severable from merits questions, the sole issue here is 
whether the district court's authority to consider a case is “involved in 
the appeal” when an appellate court considers the threshold question of 
arbitrability, Griggs, 459 U. S., at 58. The answer is yes. Pp. 744–747. 
Reversed and remanded. 
Kavanaugh, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, 
C. J., and Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett, JJ., joined. Jackson, J., fled 
a dissenting opinion, in which Sotomayor and Kagan, JJ., joined in full, 
and in which Thomas, J., joined as to Parts II, III and IV , post, p. 747. 
Neal Kumar Katyal argued the cause for petitioner. 
With him on the briefs were Jessica L. Ellsworth, Jo-Ann 
Tamila Sagar, William E. Havemann, Nathaniel A. G. Ze-

738 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Opinion of the Court 
linsky, Michael G. Rhodes, Kathleen Hartnett, Bethany 
Lobo, and Adam M. Katz. 
Hassan A. Zavareei argued the cause for respondents. 
With him on the brief for respondent Abraham Bielski were 
Glenn E. Chappell, Spencer S. Hughes, Sabita J. Soneji, 
Wesley M. Griffth, and Matthew D. Carlson. David J. Har-
ris, Jr., fled a brief for respondents David Suski et al.* 
Justice Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court. 
When a federal district court denies a motion to compel 
arbitration, the losing party has a statutory right to an inter-
locutory appeal. See 9 U. S. C. § 16(a). The sole question 
here is whether the district court must stay its pre-trial and 
trial proceedings while the interlocutory appeal is ongo-
ing. The answer is yes: The district court must stay its 
proceedings. 
I 
Coinbase operates an online platform on which users can 
buy and sell cryptocurrencies and government-issued curren-
cies. When creating a Coinbase account, individuals agree 
to the terms in Coinbase's User Agreement. As relevant 
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were fled for the Atlantic Legal 
Foundation by Lawrence S. Ebner, John F. Querio, and Scott P . Dixler; 
for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America et al. by 
Mark A. Perry, Jennifer B. Dickey, and Elizabeth Milito; for the Civil 
Justice Association of California by Fred J. Hiestand and Benjamin G. 
Shatz; for the National Retail Federation by Andrew J. Pincus, Archis A. 
Parasharami, and Kevin Ranlett; and for the Washington Legal Founda-
tion by Cory L. Andrews and John M. Masslon II. Sarah Elizabeth 
Spencer fled a brief for the DRI Center for Law and Public Policy as 
amicus curiae urging vacatur. 
Briefs of amici curiae urging affrmance were fled for the American 
Association for Justice by Deepak Gupta, Matthew W. H. Wessler, Jennifer 
Bennett, and Tad Thomas; for the Constitutional Accountability Center 
by Elizabeth B. Wydra and Brianne J. Gorod; and for Public Justice by 
Karla Gilbride . 
Jason D. Russell, Deborah R. White, Michael W. McTigue, Jr., Meredith 
C. Slawe, and Lara A. Flath fled a brief for the Retail Litigation Center, 
Inc., as amicus curiae. 
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Opinion of the Court 
here, the User Agreement contains an arbitration provision, 
which directs that disputes arising under the agreement be 
resolved through binding arbitration. 
This case concerns a putative class action fled against 
Coinbase in the U. S. District Court for the Northern Dis-
trict of California. Abraham Bielski sued on behalf of Coin-
base users who allege that Coinbase failed to replace funds 
fraudulently taken from the users' accounts. 
The District Court denied Coinbase's motion to compel ar-
bitration. Coinbase then fled an interlocutory appeal to the 
U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit under 9 U. S. C. 
§ 16(a).
1 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 re-
ceiving Coinbase's motion for a stay, the Ninth Circuit like-
wise 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). 
1 As relevant, the text of § 16(a) provides: 
“An appeal may be taken from . . . an order . . . 
“(A) refusing a stay of any action under section 3 of this title, 
“(B) denying a petition under section 4 of this title to order arbitration 
to proceed, 
“(C) denying an application under section 206 of this title to compel 
arbitration, 
“(D) confrming or denying confrmation of an award or partial award, or 
“(E) modifying, correcting, or vacating an award.” 
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740 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Opinion of the Court 
To resolve that disagreement among the Courts of Ap-
peals, we granted certiorari. 598 U. S. ––– (2022). 
II 
The Federal Arbitration Act governs arbitration agree-
ments. In 1988, Congress passed and President Reagan 
signed an amendment to the Act; the amendment is codifed 
at 9 U. S. C. § 16(a). Under § 16(a), when a district court de-
nies a party's motion to compel arbitration, that party may 
take an interlocutory appeal. Section 16(a) creates a rare 
statutory exception to the usual rule that parties may not 
appeal before fnal judgment. See Mohawk Industries, Inc. 
v. Carpenter, 558 U. S. 100, 108–109 (2009). Notably, Con-
gress provided for immediate interlocutory appeals of orders 
denying—but not of orders granting—motions to compel 
arbitration. 
The sole question before this Court is whether a district 
court must stay its proceedings while the interlocutory ap-
peal on arbitrability is ongoing. The answer is yes. 
Section 16(a) does not say whether the district court pro-
ceedings must be stayed. But Congress enacted § 16(a) 
against a clear background principle prescribed by this 
Court's precedents: An appeal, including an interlocutory ap-
peal, “divests the district court of its control over those as-
pects of the case involved in the appeal.” Griggs v. Provi-
dent Consumer Discount Co., 459 U. S. 56, 58 (1982). That 
Griggs principle refects a longstanding tenet of American 
procedure. See Hovey v. McDonald , 109 U. S. 150, 157 
(1883); see also Price v. Dunn, 587 U. S. –––, ––– (2019) 
(Thomas, J., joined by Alito and Gorsuch, JJ., concurring 
in denial of certiorari) (describing Griggs principle as “well 
settled”); Marrese v. American Academy of Orthopaedic 
Surgeons, 470 U. S. 373, 379 (1985) (“In general, fling of a 
notice of appeal confers jurisdiction on the court of appeals 
and divests the district court of control over those aspects of 
the case involved in the appeal”). 
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The Griggs principle resolves this case. Because the 
question on appeal is whether the case belongs in arbitration 
or instead in the district court, the entire case is essentially 
“involved in the appeal.” 459 U. S., at 58. As Judge East-
erbrook cogently explained, when a party appeals the denial 
of a motion to compel arbitration, whether “the litigation 
may go forward in the district court is precisely what the 
court of appeals must decide.” Bradford-Scott Data Corp. 
v. Physician Computer Network, Inc., 128 F. 3d 504, 506 
(CA7 1997). Stated otherwise, the question of whether “the 
case should be litigated in the district court . . . is the mirror 
image of the question presented on appeal.” Id., at 505. 
Here, as elsewhere, it “makes no sense for trial to go forward 
while the court of appeals cogitates on whether there should 
be one.” Apostol v. Gallion, 870 F. 2d 1335, 1338 (CA7 
1989). In short, Griggs dictates that the district court must 
stay its proceedings while the interlocutory appeal on arbi-
trability is ongoing.
2 
Most courts of appeals to address the question in the 
§ 16(a) context have reached that same conclusion. E. g., 
Blinco v. Green Tree Servicing, LLC , 366 F. 3d 1249, 1253 
(CA11 2004) (“[I]t makes little sense for the litigation to con-
tinue in the district court while the appeal is pending”).
3 
Leading treatises agree that a district court should stay its 
proceedings while the interlocutory appeal on arbitrability is 
2 Coinbase concedes that the district court may still proceed with mat-
ters that are not involved in the appeal, such as the awarding of costs and 
attorney's fees. Brief for Petitioner 21; see also 16A C. Wright, A. Miller, 
E. Cooper, & C. Struve, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3949.1, pp. 68– 
69 (5th ed. 2019). 
3 See also Levin v. Alms & Assoc., Inc., 634 F. 3d 260, 266 (CA4 2011); 
Ehleiter v. Grapetree Shores, Inc., 482 F. 3d 207, 215, n. 6 (CA3 2007); 
McCauley v. Halliburton Energy Servs., Inc., 413 F. 3d 1158, 1162–1163 
(CA10 2005); Bombardier Corp. v. National R. Passenger Corporation, 
333 F. 3d 250, 252 (CADC 2003); Bradford-Scott Data Corp. v. Physician 
Computer Network, Inc., 128 F. 3d 504, 505–507 (CA7 1997); but see, e. g., 
Weingarten Realty Investors v. Miller, 661 F. 3d 904, 907–910 (CA5 2011). 
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742 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Opinion of the Court 
ongoing. For example, Moore's treatise states that a “stay 
in these circumstances” is “the sounder approach” and “is 
consistent with the general [Griggs ] principle that a district 
court should not exercise jurisdiction over those aspects of 
the case that are involved in the appeal.” 19 J. Moore, 
D. Coquillette, G. Joseph, G. Vairo, & C. Varner, Moore's Fed-
eral Practice § 203.12[3][a] (3d ed. 2022). Similarly, the 
Wright and Miller treatise endorses the automatic stay re-
quirement in arbitration cases. The treatise explains that a 
“complete stay of district-court proceedings pending appeal 
from a refusal to order arbitration is desirable” because 
“[c]ontinued trial-court proceedings pending appeal could 
lead to an entirely wasted trial if arbitration is ordered on 
appeal.” 15B C. Wright, A. Miller, & E. Cooper, Federal 
Practice and Procedure § 3914.17, p. 7 (2d ed., Supp. 2022). 
In the Circuits that have considered the issue in the analo-
gous contexts of qualifed immunity and double jeopardy, 
moreover, district courts likewise must automatically stay 
their proceedings while the interlocutory appeal is ongoing.
4 
Similarly, as Bielski acknowledges, courts have held that the 
Griggs principle applies to those aspects of the case involved 
in a certifed interlocutory appeal under 28 U. S. C. § 1292(b).
5 
The common practice in § 16(a) cases, therefore, is for a 
district court to stay its proceedings while the interlocutory 
appeal on arbitrability is ongoing. That common practice 
4 E. g., United States v. Montgomery, 262 F. 3d 233, 239–240 (CA4 2001) 
(double jeopardy); United States v. LaMere, 951 F. 2d 1106, 1108 (CA9 
1991) (same); United States v. Grabinski, 674 F. 2d 677, 679 (CA8 1982) 
(same); United States v. Dunbar, 611 F. 2d 985, 988–989 (CA5 1980) (en 
banc) (same); Chuman v. Wright, 960 F. 2d 104, 105 (CA9 1992) (qualifed 
immunity); Yates v. Cleveland, 941 F. 2d 444, 448–449 (CA6 1991) (same); 
Apostol v. Gallion, 870 F. 2d 1335, 1338 (CA7 1989) (same); Stewart v. 
Donges, 915 F. 2d 572, 575–576 (CA10 1990) (both). 
5 See Tr. of Oral Arg. 60–61; see also Green Leaf Nursery v. E. I. Du-
Pont De Nemours and Co., 341 F. 3d 1292, 1309 (CA11 2003); Los Angeles 
v. Santa Monica Baykeeper , 254 F. 3d 882, 885–886 (CA9 2001); Dayton 
Independent School Dist. v. U. S. Mineral Prods. Co., 906 F. 2d 1059, 1063– 
1064 (CA5 1990). 
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refects common sense. Absent an automatic stay of district 
court proceedings, Congress's decision in § 16(a) to afford a 
right to an interlocutory appeal would be largely nullifed. 
If the district court could move forward with pre-trial and 
trial proceedings while the appeal on arbitrability was ongo-
ing, then many of the asserted benefts of arbitration (eff-
ciency, less expense, less intrusive discovery, and the like) 
would be irretrievably lost—even if the court of appeals later 
concluded that the case actually had belonged in arbitration 
all along. Absent a stay, parties also could be forced to set-
tle to avoid the district court proceedings (including discov-
ery and trial) that they contracted to avoid through arbitra-
tion. That potential for coercion is especially pronounced in 
class actions, where the possibility of colossal liability can 
lead to what Judge Friendly called “blackmail settlements.” 
H. Friendly, Federal Jurisdiction: A General View 120 (1973). 
As Judge Easterbrook stated, continuation of proceedings 
in the district court “largely defeats the point of the appeal.” 
Bradford-Scott, 128 F. 3d, at 505. A right to interlocutory 
appeal of the arbitrability issue without an automatic stay of 
the district court proceedings is therefore like a lock without 
a key, a bat without a ball, a computer without a keyboard— 
in other words, not especially sensible. 
From the Judiciary's institutional perspective, moreover, 
allowing a case to proceed simultaneously in the district 
court and the court of appeals creates the possibility that 
the district court will waste scarce judicial resources—which 
could be devoted to other pressing criminal or civil mat-
ters—on a dispute that will ultimately head to arbitration 
in any event. That scenario represents the “worst possible 
outcome” for parties and the courts: litigating a dispute in 
the district court only for the court of appeals to “reverse 
and order the dispute arbitrated.” Id., at 506. The Griggs 
rule avoids that detrimental result. 
Importantly, Congress's longstanding practice both re-
fects and reinforces the Griggs rule. When Congress wants 
to authorize an interlocutory appeal and to automatically 
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744 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Opinion of the Court 
stay the district court proceedings during that appeal, Con-
gress need not say anything about a stay. At least absent 
contrary indications, the background Griggs principle al-
ready requires an automatic stay of district court proceed-
ings that relate to any aspect of the case involved in the 
appeal. By contrast, when Congress wants to authorize an 
interlocutory appeal, but not to automatically stay district 
court proceedings pending that appeal, Congress typically 
says so. Since the creation of the modern courts of appeals 
system in 1891, Congress has enacted multiple statutory 
“non-stay” provisions.
6 Indeed, Congress enacted a “non-
stay” provision the day before enacting § 16(a) in 1988. See 
102 Stat. 4120 (“Neither the application for, nor the granting 
of, an appeal . . . shall stay proceedings in the Court of Veter-
ans Appeals”). 
In short, the Griggs rule requires that a district court stay 
its proceedings while the interlocutory appeal on the ques-
tion of arbitrability is ongoing. 
III 
To overcome the Griggs principle, Bielski advances fve 
main arguments. None is persuasive. 
First, Bielski contends that an automatic stay would en-
courage frivolous appeals that would improperly delay dis-
trict court proceedings. To begin with, Bielski has not es-
tablished that frivolous appeals frequently occur in the 
6 Act of Apr. 3, 1926, ch. 102, 44 Stat. 233–234; Act of Feb. 28, 1927, 
ch. 228, id., at 1261; Act of Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85–919, 72 Stat. 1770; 
Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982, § 125, 96 Stat. 37, 28 U. S. C. 
§ 1292(d)(3); Tax Reform Act of 1986, § 1558, 100 Stat. 2757–2758, 26 
U. S. C. § 7482(a)(2)(A); Veterans' Judicial Review Act, 102 Stat. 4120, as 
amended, 38 U. S. C. § 7292(b)(1); Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Con-
sumer Protection Act of 2005, 119 Stat. 203, 28 U. S. C. § 158(d)(2)(D); 
Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, § 306, 
130 Stat. 582, 48 U. S. C. § 2166(e)(6); see also Judiciary Act of 1891, § 7, 26 
Stat. 828; Act of June 6, 1900, ch. 803, 31 Stat. 660–661; Fed. Rule Civ. 
Proc. 23(f). 
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Circuits that have long applied the Griggs principle in arbi-
tration cases. Cf. Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White 
Sales, Inc., 586 U. S. –––, ––– (2019). Nor does Bielski argue 
that Coinbase's appeal in this case is frivolous. Importantly, 
moreover, the courts of appeals possess robust tools to pre-
vent unwarranted delay and deter frivolous interlocutory ap-
peals. For example, a party can ask the court of appeals to 
summarily affrm, to expedite an interlocutory appeal, or to 
dismiss the interlocutory appeal as frivolous. In addition, 
nearly every circuit has developed a process by which a dis-
trict court itself may certify that an interlocutory appeal is 
frivolous. Brief for Petitioner 51; see also Arthur Andersen 
LLP v. Carlisle, 556 U. S. 624, 629 (2009) (“Appellate courts 
can streamline the disposition of meritless claims and even 
authorize the district court's retention of” a case “when an 
appeal is certifed as frivolous”). Finally, a court of appeals 
may impose sanctions where appropriate; the possibility of 
sanctions also helps deter frivolous appeals. See Fed. Rule 
App. Proc. 38; Arthur Andersen, 556 U. S., at 629. 
Second, Bielski contrasts § 16(a) with two other statutory 
provisions that contain an explicit stay requirement—§ 3 of 
the Federal Arbitration Act and § 1292(d)(4) of Title 28. 
Bielski suggests that Congress would not have included 
those explicit stay requirements in § 3 and § 1292(d)(4) unless 
Congress thought that an interlocutory appeal did not ordi-
narily stay district court proceedings. Bielski is wrong. 
Section 3 of the Act provides for a stay of court proceed-
ings pending arbitration, not pending an appeal. That situ-
ation does not fall within the Griggs rule. No background 
principle requires automatic stays of district court proceed-
ings pending arbitration. In order to automatically stay 
court proceedings pending arbitration in those cases, Con-
gress therefore affrmatively codifed a stay requirement. 
As to § 1292(d)(4): When Congress added § 1292(d)(4)'s stay 
requirement in 1988, the relevant subsection already con-
tained a provision, § 1292(d)(3), that expressly made stays of

746 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Opinion of the Court 
proceedings in certain courts discretionary rather than man-
datory. To avoid any misinterpretation of § 1292(d)(4) be-
cause of that preexisting language in § 1292(d)(3), Congress 
specifed the right to an automatic stay pending appeal in 
§ 1292(d)(4). That unusual circumstance does not diminish 
the operation of the Griggs rule in the context of arbitrabil-
ity appeals. 
Third, Bielski contends that requiring an automatic stay 
would create a special, arbitration-preferring procedural 
rule. That is incorrect. In fact, Bielski's proposed ap-
proach would disfavor arbitration. Applying the Griggs 
rule here simply subjects arbitrability appeals to the same 
stay principles that courts apply in other analogous contexts 
where an interlocutory appeal is authorized, including quali-
fed immunity and double jeopardy. Bielski further points 
to forum selection clauses as an analogy. But unlike § 16(a) 
arbitrability appeals, Congress has not created a right to an 
interlocutory appeal for cases involving forum selection 
clauses. So a stay in the forum selection context could be 
required only in those cases where there is a certifed 
§ 1292(b) interlocutory appeal of the forum selection issue. 
Fourth, Bielski suggests that there is no need for an auto-
matic stay because the ordinary discretionary stay factors 
would adequately protect parties' rights to an interlocutory 
appellate determination of arbitrability. To begin with, ex-
perience shows that Bielski is incorrect. District courts and 
courts of appeals applying the usual four-factor standard for 
a discretionary stay often deny stays in § 16(a) appeals 
because courts applying that test often do not consider 
litigation-related burdens (here, from the continued District 
Court proceedings) to constitute irreparable harm. See 
Nken v. Holder, 556 U. S. 418, 434–435 (2009); FTC v. Stand-
ard Oil Co. of Cal., 449 U. S. 232, 244 (1980) (“Mere litigation 
expense, even substantial and unrecoupable cost, does not 
constitute irreparable injury” (internal quotation marks 
omitted)); App. to Pet. for Cert. 43a (District Court in Biel-
ski stating that “[m]ere litigation expenses do not generally 
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Jackson, J., dissenting 
constitute irreparable injury” for purposes of stay pending 
appeal). In any event, the background Griggs rule applies 
regardless of how often courts might otherwise grant stays 
under the ordinary discretionary stay factors. 
Fifth, Bielski relies on this Court's statement that ques-
tions of arbitrability are “severable from the merits of the 
underlying disputes.” Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital 
v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U. S. 1, 21 (1983). But the 
sole issue here is whether the district court's authority to 
consider a case is “involved in the appeal” when an appel-
late court considers the threshold question of arbitrability. 
Griggs, 459 U. S., at 58. The answer is yes, and Moses H. 
Cone says nothing to the contrary. 
* * * 
We conclude that, after Coinbase appealed from the denial 
of its motion to compel arbitration, the District Court was 
required to stay its proceedings. On remand, we anticipate 
that the Ninth Circuit here, as we anticipate in § 16(a) ap-
peals more generally, will proceed with appropriate expedi-
tion when considering Coinbase's interlocutory appeal from 
the denial of the motion to compel arbitration. We reverse 
the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand the case 
for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
7 
It is so ordered. 
Justice Jackson, with whom Justice Sotomayor and 
Justice Kagan join, and with whom Justice Thomas joins 
as to Parts II, III, and IV , dissenting. 
When a federal court of appeals conducts interlocutory re-
view of a trial court order, the rest of the case remains at 
the trial court level. Usually, the trial judge then makes a 
particularized determination upon request, based on the 
7 The Court's judgment today pertains to respondent Abraham Bielski. 
The writ of certiorari as to respondents David Suski et al. is dismissed as 
improvidently granted. 
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748 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Jackson, J., dissenting 
facts and circumstances of that case, as to whether the re-
maining part of the case should continue unabated or be 
paused (stayed) pending appeal. This discretionary deci-
sionmaking promotes procedural fairness because it allows 
for a balancing of all relevant interests. See Nken v. 
Holder, 556 U. S. 418, 434 (2009). 
Today, the Court departs from this traditional approach. 
It holds that, with respect to an interlocutory appeal of a 
trial court order denying arbitration, a trial court must al-
ways “stay its pre-trial and trial proceedings while the inter-
locutory appeal is ongoing.” Ante, at 738. In other words, 
in this context, the Court sees ft to impose a mandatory 
general stay of trial court proceedings. 
This mandatory-general-stay rule for interlocutory arbi-
trability appeals comes out of nowhere. No statute imposes 
it. Nor does any decision of this Court. Yet today's major-
ity invents a new stay rule perpetually favoring one class of 
litigants—defendants seeking arbitration. Those defend-
ants will now receive a stay even when, according to the 
usual equitable analysis, there is no good reason for one. 
And, in reaching this result, the Court concludes for the frst 
time that an interlocutory appeal about one matter (arbitra-
bility) bars the district court from proceeding on another 
(the merits). That logic has such signifcant implications for 
federal litigation that the majority itself shies away from the 
Pandora's box it may have opened. 
I see no basis here for wresting away the discretion tradi-
tionally entrusted to the judge closest to a case. I respect-
fully dissent. 
I 
Congress did not impose the mandatory-general-stay rule 
that the majority adopts today. 
Start with the governing statute. Congress addressed 
the kind of interlocutory appeals at issue here in 9 U. S. C. 
§ 16—the section of the Federal Arbitration Act it enacted 
to govern “Appeals.” 102 Stat. 4671 (amending the Federal 
Arbitration Act, 9 U. S. C. § 1 et seq.). Section 16 provides 
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Jackson, J., dissenting 
that “[a]n appeal may be taken from” specifed orders and 
decisions, and “an appeal may not be taken from” others. 
The appeals that § 16 authorizes include interlocutory 
appeals of orders denying requests for arbitration. 
§§ 16(a)(1)(A)–(C). 
But nowhere did Congress provide that such an interlocu-
tory appeal automatically triggers a general stay of pre-trial 
and trial proceedings. As the majority opinion admits, § 16 
never even mentions a stay pending appeal. Ante, at 740. 
Even beyond that, related provisions confrm that Con-
gress imposed no mandatory general stay in § 16 appeals. 
“Where Congress includes particular language in one section 
of a statute but omits it in another section of the same Act, 
it is generally presumed that Congress acts intentionally and 
purposely in the disparate inclusion or exclusion.” Nken, 
556 U. S., at 430 (alterations and internal quotation marks 
omitted). Congress did that here—twice. 
First, Congress expressly mandated a general interlocu-
tory stay in another provision of the same 1988 law that 
enacted § 16. See 102 Stat. 4652, 4670–4671. Like § 16, 
that other provision—codifed at 28 U. S. C. § 1292(d)(4)—au-
thorizes interlocutory appeals. See § 1292(d)(4)(A). But 
unlike § 16, the text of that other provision specifes that, 
upon an interlocutory appeal, “proceedings shall be . . . 
stayed until the appeal has been decided.” § 1292(d)(4)(B). 
This resembles the rule the majority adopts today for § 16 
appeals. Yet Congress omitted it from § 16, while simulta-
neously imposing it in § 1292(d)(4). 
Second, Congress expressly mandated a general interlocu-
tory stay in another provision of the Federal Arbitration Act. 
Section 3 pertains to a circumstance in which the trial court 
is “satisfed” that an issue should be referred to arbitration. 
9 U. S. C. § 3. In such a case, the statute expressly provides 
that the trial court “shall on application of one of the parties 
stay the trial of the action until such arbitration has been 
had.” Ibid. (emphasis added). Again, the contrast with 
§ 16 is stark. Congress specifed a mandatory general stay 
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750 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Jackson, J., dissenting 
of trial court proceedings in § 3 (when the trial court deter-
mines that arbitration is warranted) but not § 16(a) (when the 
court determines that arbitration is unwarranted). 
The majority opinion waves away these mandatory -
general-stay provisions by jerry-rigging explanations for 
why Congress mandated those stays expressly without doing 
so in § 16. Ante, at 745–746. But the point remains: Con-
gress focused on stays when crafting the 1988 law and the 
Federal Arbitration Act. And when it intended to mandate 
interlocutory stays, it said so expressly. Nothing stopped 
Congress from doing so in § 16—yet it chose not to. This 
underscores that § 16 does not mandate a stay.
1 
1 The majority's explanation for why Congress mandated a stay in 28 
U. S. C. § 1292(d)(4) also makes no sense. According to the majority, Con-
gress usually remains silent when it intends to mandate a stay. Ante, 
at 743–744, 745–746. Congress expressly imposed a mandatory stay in 
§ 1292(d)(4), the majority says, only because a pre-existing provision, 
§ 1292(d)(3), would otherwise have made stays in § 1292(d)(4) appeals dis-
cretionary. Ante, at 745–746. 
But that last point holds no water. Paragraph (3) has no bearing on 
paragraph (4), because these two provisions govern different kinds of 
appeals. 
Specifcally, paragraph (3) governs certain appeals by permission, while 
paragraph (4) governs a separate set of appeals as of right. Paragraph 
(3) addresses events unique to permissive appeals: “Neither the applica-
tion for nor the granting of an appeal” stays trial court proceedings. 
§ 1292(d)(3) (emphasis added). Paragraph (3) thus corresponds to para-
graphs (1) and (2), which authorize permissive appeals “if application is 
made” and granted. §§ 1292(d)(1)–(2). Meanwhile, paragraph (4) sepa-
rately authorizes certain as-of-right appeals, § 1292(d)(4)(A), and it im-
poses mandatory stays in such appeals, § 1292(d)(4)(B). In an appeal as 
of right under paragraph (4), paragraph (3) never kicks in, because there 
is no “application for” or “granting of” an appeal, § 1292(d)(3). 
Thus, the majority's story—that Congress needed express stay language 
to avoid overlap with paragraph (3)—turns on a red herring. There is no 
such overlap. Instead, only the more straightforward explanation re-
mains: Congress imposed a mandatory general stay in § 1292(d)(4)—but 
not 9 U. S. C. § 16—because it intended such a stay under the former but 
not the latter.

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Jackson, J., dissenting 
Given all this, it is no surprise that Congress's enactments 
barely fgure into the majority opinion. The mandatory-
general-stay rule is so untethered from § 16 that the statu-
tory text has no role in the Court's reasoning. 
And when Congress's work fnally does take the stage near 
the end of the Court's analysis, it plays a minor part. See 
ante, at 743–744. The Court notes that other statutes ex-
pressly provide that appeals do not automatically stay dis-
trict court proceedings. Ante, at 744, and n. 6. From this, 
the Court tries to draw an across-the-board inference that, 
unless Congress expressly disavows the majority's 
mandatory-general-stay rule, that rule applies. 
The Court's inference fails. The statutes that the major-
ity points to have nothing to do with arbitration or § 16 (un-
like the two provisions discussed above, which were enacted 
in the same 1988 law as § 16 and codifed alongside § 16 in 
the Federal Arbitration Act, respectively, supra, at 749). 
Moreover, and in any event, the majority's cited statutes 
do not support the majority's mandatory-general-stay rule. 
The majority invokes statutes that expressly preclude auto-
matic stays of all trial court proceedings. But if the major-
ity is correct that Congress intended the opposite when a 
statute is silent, then stays of all trial court proceedings 
would be required. Yet, the majority's own holding does not 
go that far. See ante, at 741, n. 2. Instead, the majority 
requires stays for some proceedings (those related to the 
merits) but not others (those related to costs and fees), 
ibid.—a line that appears nowhere in the majority's cited 
statutes. 
At the end of the day, the best the majority can do is point 
to a smattering of provisions that do not contain the rule 
that the majority adopts. And those provisions do not even 
relate to § 16 or the majority's rule (staying litigation gener-
ally but not proceedings on costs and fees). Neither those 
statutes, nor any other, imposes on arbitrability appeals the 
stay rule that the Court announces. 
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II 
Unable to locate its rule in a statute, the majority opinion 
pivots to “background principle[s].” Ante, at 740. But 
there is no background mandatory-general-stay rule. 
To the contrary, the background rule is that courts have 
case-by-case discretion regarding whether or not to issue a 
stay. “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the 
power inherent in every court to control the disposition of 
the causes on its docket.” Landis v. North American Co., 
299 U. S. 248, 254 (1936). That power is discretionary—it 
“calls for the exercise of judgment, which must weigh com-
peting interests” in each particular case. Id., at 254–255. 
One key to this discretionary-stay tradition is its “suppleness 
of adaptation to varying conditions.” Id., at 256. A stay 
“is not a matter of right” and cannot be imposed “refex-
ively.” Nken, 556 U. S., at 427 (internal quotation marks 
omitted). 
That has long been the default rule. A court's discretion 
“to grant a stay pending review” is “frmly imbedded in our 
judicial system, consonant with the historic procedures of 
federal appellate courts.” Ibid. (internal quotation marks 
omitted). It is “a power as old as the judicial system of the 
nation.” Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted); see 28 
U. S. C. § 1651(a) (All Writs Act, originally enacted in 1789, 
1 Stat. 81–82). 
Signifcantly for present purposes, discretionary stays are 
the default for interlocutory appeals in particular—and this 
dates back to the frst federal interlocutory-appeal statute in 
1891. Judiciary Act of 1891, § 7, 26 Stat. 828; see 15A C. 
Wright, A. Miller, & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Proce-
dure § 3906, p. 346 (3d ed. 2022). There, Congress estab-
lished that “proceedings . . . in the court below shall not 
be stayed unless otherwise ordered by that court during 
the pendency of such appeal.” § 7, 26 Stat. 828 (emphasis 
added). 
That statute cemented a background discretionary-stay 
rule that governed even where Congress was silent—as this 
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Jackson, J., dissenting 
Court has repeatedly recognized. Shortly after the 1891 
Act, a case arose under conditions in which the Act was silent 
about whether a stay should issue. In re Haberman Mfg. 
Co., 147 U. S. 525, 530 (1893) (fnding “no express provision” 
on point). This Court applied the background rule: “[T]he 
Circuit Court had a discretion to grant or refuse” a stay. 
Ibid. Another case of statutory silence arose a few years 
later. In re McKenzie , 180 U. S. 536, 550–551 (1901). 
Again, this Court reiterated federal courts' “inherent power 
. . . to stay or supersede proceedings on appeal” from an 
interlocutory order. Id., at 551. As this Court summarized 
in yet another case, the rule is that the trial court has “au-
thority” during an interlocutory appeal “to take further pro-
ceedings in the cause, unless in its discretion it orders them 
to be stayed, pending the appeal.” Smith v. Vulcan Iron 
Works, 165 U. S. 518, 525 (1897). That authority is “recog-
nized” by the 1891 Act but existed already as a traditional 
matter, “often exercised by other courts of chancery.” Ibid. 
This was the background against which Congress enacted 
§ 16. And—importantly—courts understood stays as discre-
tionary with respect to interlocutory appeals concerning ar-
bitrability. Before Congress enacted § 16, parties brought 
interlocutory arbitrability appeals under other sources of ap-
pellate jurisdiction, and courts treated stays as discretionary, 
not mandatory.
2 Yet, according to the majority, Congress 
sought to displace that common understanding when it 
enacted § 16—without saying anything at all about stays 
pending appeal. 
Even setting all that aside, the majority opinion's reliance 
on a “background” rule, ante, at 740, still fails. The major-
ity has not shown that its own rule (the mandatory-general-
2 See, e. g., Pearce v. E. F. Hutton Group, Inc., 828 F. 2d 826, 829 (CADC 
1987); Maxum Foundations, Inc. v. Salus Corp., 779 F. 2d 974, 977 (CA4 
1985); Matterhorn, Inc. v. NCR Corp., 727 F. 2d 629, 630 (CA7 1984); Lum-
mus Co. v. Commonwealth Oil Refning Co., 273 F. 2d 613, 613–614 (CA1 
1959) (per curiam ); Bernhardt v. Polygraphic Co. of Am., 235 F. 2d 209, 
211 (CA2 1956) (per curiam ). 
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754 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Jackson, J., dissenting 
stay rule) existed as a background matter when Congress 
enacted § 16 in 1988. Indeed, the majority opinion does not 
identify a single case in which this Court imposed a manda-
tory general stay of pre-trial and trial proceedings pending 
an interlocutory appeal. Not in an arbitration case. Not in 
an analogous case about the proper adjudicatory forum for a 
dispute. Not in any interlocutory appeal at all. 
III 
Because neither the statute nor any background law states 
that an interlocutory appeal over arbitrability triggers a 
mandatory general stay of trial court proceedings, the ma-
jority opinion resorts to spinning such a rule from a single 
sentence in Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co., 459 
U. S. 56 (1982) (per curiam ). But Griggs expresses a far 
narrower principle, and is thus insuffcient to support the 
majority's mandatory-general-stay rule. 
Griggs stands for a modest proposition: Two courts should 
avoid exercising control over the same order or judgment 
simultaneously. The problem Griggs identifes is the “dan-
ger a district court and a court of appeals would be simulta-
neously analyzing the same judgment.” Id., at 59. The 
cure Griggs prescribes is that “[t]he fling of a notice of ap-
peal . . . divests the district court of its control over those 
aspects of the case involved in the appeal.” Id., at 58. 
And the reason is simple. Two courts simultaneously ana-
lyzing the same judgment could step on each other's toes. 
It would interfere with the appellate court's review of an 
order if the district court modifed that order mid-appeal. 
Instead, an order should be reviewed by one court at a time. 
This notion of “one order, one reviewing court” is all that 
was at issue in Griggs. Griggs concerned a party that tried 
to appeal a judgment while the District Court was still con-
sidering whether to alter that same judgment. Id., at 56. 
The Court held that the appeal needed to wait until after the 
District Court's work on that judgment was done. Id., at 
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Jackson, J., dissenting 
60–61. This result, which followed from the Federal Rules 
of Appellate Procedure, was necessary to “avoi[d]” the situa-
tion “in which district courts and courts of appeals would 
both have had the power to modify the same judgment.” 
Id., at 60 (emphasis added). 
Properly understood and applied here, Griggs divests the 
district court of control over only a narrow slice of the case. 
The interlocutory appeal addresses an order declining to 
compel arbitration. Griggs merely prevents the district 
court from modifying that order—i. e., Griggs prevents the 
district judge from revisiting whether to compel arbitration 
while the appeal is pending. Griggs does not stop the dis-
trict court from proceeding on matters other than 
arbitrability. 
The majority opinion, however, transmogrifes Griggs into 
a sweeping stay of “pre-trial and trial proceedings” on not 
just arbitrability, but also the merits. Ante, at 738. Ac-
cording to the majority, if the question on appeal is “whether 
the litigation may go forward in the district court,” then the 
district court loses control over “ the entire case .” Ante, at 
741 (emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted). 
That rule far surpasses the statement in Griggs—the sole 
statement on which the majority relies—that a district court 
loses “control over those aspects of the case involved in the 
appeal.” 459 U. S., at 58; ante, at 740. Only the arbitrabil-
ity order is on appeal, not the merits. And those matters 
are distinct. As this Court recognized (before Congress 
enacted § 16), “arbitrability” is “easily severable from the 
merits of the underlying disputes.” Moses H. Cone Memo-
rial Hospital v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U. S. 1, 21 (1983). 
The majority cannot justify why it treats these “easily sev-
erable” matters as intertwined in an arbitrability appeal. 
“[T]he question on appeal,” as the majority opinion correctly 
identifes, is “whether the case belongs in arbitration.” 
Ante, at 741. But the questions remaining before the dis-
trict court are different: whether the claims have merit, 
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756 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Jackson, J., dissenting 
whether the parties are entitled to the discovery they seek, 
and so on. Proceedings on those questions would not inter-
fere with the appellate court's review of the arbitrability 
order. Those proceedings, in other words, do not implicate 
the Griggs principle, which addresses the “danger a district 
court and a court of appeals would be simultaneously analyz-
ing the same judgment.” 459 U. S., at 59. 
The Court today expands Griggs beyond what the Con-
gress that enacted § 16 could have foreseen, let alone silently 
incorporated. Indeed, the majority can identify no other 
time this Court wielded Griggs to mandate a stay of all mer-
its proceedings just because a distinct procedural question 
was on appeal. 
In fact, the majority's supercharged version of Griggs con-
tradicts its own account of Congress's intent. Consider the 
statutes that the majority points to as models of how Con-
gress would reject a mandatory-general-stay rule. Ante, at 
743–744, and n. 6; see supra, at 750–751. Under those stat-
utes, the majority says, Congress intends that an interlocu-
tory appeal does “not . . . automatically stay district court 
proceedings.” Ante, at 744. Yet, the majority also seem-
ingly accepts that under those statutes, “the Griggs principle 
applies.” Ante, at 742. And per “the Griggs principle” as 
the majority sees it, in some cases an interlocutory appeal 
does automatically stay district court proceedings. Ante, at 
741–742. So a mandatory general stay is thus both prohib-
ited (by the statutory text) and required (by the majority's 
view of Griggs).
3 As this contradiction underscores, the ma-
3 This contradiction arises, for example, under 28 U. S. C. § 1292(b), one 
of the statutes that the majority cites as prohibiting mandatory general 
stays. See ante, at 744, n. 6 (citing Act of Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85–919, 72 
Stat. 1770 (codifed at § 1292(b))). Section 1292(b) authorizes permissive 
interlocutory appeals from a wide range of orders involving “controlling 
question[s] of law”—including rulings on arbitrability. Arbitrability ap-
peals under § 1292(b) were commonplace when Congress enacted 9 U. S. C. 
§ 16 in 1988. See, e. g., Danford v. Schwabacher, 488 F. 2d 454, 457 (CA9 
1973) (“Since 1958 interlocutory arbitration orders have been reviewable 
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Jackson, J., dissenting 
jority's holding is untethered from any statute and any exist-
ing conception of Griggs. 
IV 
To justify its new mandatory-general-stay rule, the major-
ity ultimately rests on its assessment of what is “sensible.” 
Ante, at 742–743. But even the majority's policy concerns 
do not support its rule. 
The dispute here turns on a subset of cases—those in 
which a stay is not warranted under the usual discretionary 
standard. See Nken, 556 U. S., at 434. All agree that an 
interlocutory appeal should trigger a stay if that standard is 
met. But the majority goes further and requires a stay in 
all cases. Indeed, the majority mandates a stay even if 
none of the traditional stay prerequisites are present: likeli-
hood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, favorable 
balance of equities, and alignment with the public interest. 
See ibid. 
The majority offers no good reason for that result. The 
majority says that an automatic stay protects the party seek-
ing arbitration and conserves resources in case the dispute 
“ultimately head[s] to arbitration” after appeal. Ante, at 
743. But the concern fades if that scenario is unrealistic— 
i. e., if the party seeking arbitration is unlikely to succeed 
on appeal. 
The majority's concern is even weaker when a stay would 
harm the opposing party and the public interest much more 
than it would protect the party seeking arbitration. Take, 
for example, a case in which crucial evidence would be lost 
if discovery is delayed. Say a witness is on her deathbed. 
Under the majority's rule, if an interlocutory arbitrability 
appeal under § 16(a) is pending, discovery must be stayed 
in accordance with the procedures prescribed by 28 U. S. C. § 1292(b)”). 
And in a § 1292(b) arbitrability appeal, the majority's reading of § 1292(b) 
would prohibit a mandatory general stay, while the majority's view of 
Griggs would require one. 
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758 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Jackson, J., dissenting 
and the evidence must be lost. That is apparently so even 
if the parties agree they wish to proceed with discovery. 
The majority's rule also prevents courts from crafting 
case-specifc solutions to balance all the interests at stake. 
Under the traditional discretionary-stay rule, for instance, a 
judge could allow the parties to conduct only the forms of 
discovery that would also be permitted in arbitration. That 
would save time and leave nobody worse off even if, as the 
majority fears, the dispute ultimately heads to arbitration. 
But this kind of equitable resolution, which the court and the 
parties might consider “sensible,” ante, at 743, is forbidden 
under the majority's mandatory-general-stay rule. 
In addition, for each of the majority's concerns favoring a 
mandatory stay, there are countervailing considerations. 
The majority professes interest in “effciency.” Ibid. But 
forcing district court proceedings to a halt—for months or 
years while the appeal runs its course—is itself ineffcient. 
The majority also fears losing other “asserted benefts of ar-
bitration” without a stay. Ibid. But with a stay, the party 
opposing arbitration loses the benefts of immediate litiga-
tion. A plaintiff's request for injunctive protection against 
imminent harm, for example, goes unanswered under the ma-
jority's rule. Similarly, while the majority laments settle-
ment pressure on parties seeking arbitration, ibid., the rule 
it announces imposes settlement pressure in the opposite di-
rection. With justice delayed while the case is on hold, par-
ties “could be forced to settle,” ibid., because they do not 
wish—or cannot afford—to leave their claims in limbo. In-
congruously, the majority inficts these burdens on the party 
that won the arbitrability issue before the district court (the 
party opposing arbitration). 
In categorically resolving these conficts in favor of the 
pro-arbitration party, the majority's analysis comes down to 
this: Because the pro-arbitration party gets an interlocutory 
appeal, it should also get an automatic stay. Ibid.; see L. 
Numeroff, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985). But Con-

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Jackson, J., dissenting 
gress was entitled to give one without the other. And the 
right to interlocutory appeal is valuable on its own. It is, 
as the majority explains, “a rare statutory exception to the 
usual rule that parties may not appeal before fnal judg-
ment.” Ante, at 740. Even without a stay, if the interlocu-
tory appeal succeeds, the pro-arbitration party gets its wish 
and the dispute goes to arbitration. 
Perhaps for those reasons, real-life parties do not agree 
with the majority that an interlocutory arbitrability appeal 
is pointless without an automatic stay. No stay was issued 
in this case, for example, yet Coinbase still pursued its inter-
locutory appeal. Nor did other parties stop bringing inter-
locutory arbitrability appeals in the Circuits that had inter-
preted § 16 to impose no automatic stay.
4 
Yet this Court steps in to give the pro-arbitration party 
the additional right to an automatic stay that Congress with-
held. Now, any defendant that devises a non-frivolous argu-
ment for arbitration can not only appeal, but also press pause 
on the case—leaving plaintiffs to suffer harm, lose evidence, 
and bleed dry their patience and funding in the meantime. 
To confer that power on a class of litigants, based on blanket 
judgments resolving competing policy concerns, is Con-
gress's domain, not ours. And where Congress is silent, the 
4 For over a decade, the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits have all held 
that a § 16(a) appeal triggers no mandatory general stay. Motorola 
Credit Corp. v. Uzan, 388 F. 3d 39, 53–54 (CA2 2004); Britton v. Co-op 
Banking Group, 916 F. 2d 1405, 1412 (CA9 1990); Weingarten Realty In-
vestors v. Miller, 661 F. 3d 904, 907–910 (CA5 2011). And those Circuits 
face no shortage of interlocutory § 16(a) appeals. See, e. g., Palacios v. 
Alifne Dining, Inc., 2023 WL 2469765 (CA2, Mar. 13, 2023); Laurel v. 
Cintas Corp., 2023 WL 2363686 (CA9, Mar. 6, 2023); NATS, Inc. v. Radia-
tion Shield Technologies, Inc., 2023 WL 2416160 (CA2, Mar. 9, 2023); Hill 
v. Xerox Bus. Servs., LLC , 59 F. 4th 457 (CA9 2023); Johnson v. Walmart 
Inc., 57 F. 4th 677 (CA9 2023); Noble Capital Fund Mgmt., LLC v. US 
Capital Global Inv. Mgmt., LLC , 31 F. 4th 333 (CA5 2022); Forby v. One 
Technologies, LP, 13 F. 4th 460 (CA5 2021); Soliman v. Subway Franchi-
see Adv. Fund Trust, Ltd., 999 F. 3d 828 (CA2 2021); Polyfow, LLC v. 
Specialty RTP, LLC, 993 F. 3d 295 (CA5 2021).

760 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 
Jackson, J., dissenting 
job of managing particular litigation, in light of the concrete 
circumstances presented, belongs to the judge closest to a 
case. 
V 
The Court today ventures down an uncharted path—and 
that way lies madness. Never before had this Court man-
dated a general stay simply because an interlocutory appeal 
poses the question “whether the litigation may go forward in 
the district court.” Ante, at 741 (internal quotation marks 
omitted). And a wide array of appeals seemingly fts that 
bill. 
Indeed, any appeal over the proper forum for a dispute 
would arguably raise the same question. After all, “an arbi-
tration agreement is `a specialized kind of forum-selection 
clause.' ” Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, 596 U. S. 
–––, ––– (2022) (quoting Scherk v. Alberto-Culver Co., 417 
U. S. 506, 519 (1974)). If arbitration appeals require stays of 
all pre-trial and trial proceedings, why not all appeals about 
forum-selection agreements? And why not appeals over 
non-contractual disputes over the proper adjudicator, like 
venue, personal jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, federal-
court jurisdiction, and abstention? 
For that matter, “virtually every right that could be en-
forced appropriately by pretrial dismissal might loosely be 
described as conferring a `right not to stand trial.' ” Digital 
Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc., 511 U. S. 863, 873 
(1994). “Such motions can be made in virtually every case.” 
Ibid. Does every interlocutory appeal concerning a case-
dispositive issue now trigger a mandatory general stay of 
trial court proceedings? 
Taken that broadly, the mandatory-general-stay rule the 
Court adopts today would upend federal litigation as we 
know it. Aware that any interlocutory appeal on a disposi-
tive issue grinds the plaintiff's case to a halt, defendants 
would presumably pursue that tactic at every opportunity. 
This would occur, for example, in interlocutory appeals avail-
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Jackson, J., dissenting 
able as of right under 28 U. S. C. § 1292(a)(1) from orders 
granting preliminary injunctions. Any defense lawyer 
worth her salt would invoke the right to take that appeal 
and throw up some objection—to venue, jurisdiction, or a 
dispositive element of the merits—to trigger a mandatory 
stay. For plaintiffs, then, every preliminary-injunction mo-
tion becomes a trap: Even if the motion is granted, the de-
fendant can take that opportunity to stop the trial court pro-
ceedings in their tracks. 
Facing these destabilizing consequences, the majority 
stops short of following its own reasoning to that ominous 
conclusion. Today's holding reaches only arbitration appeals 
under § 16(a). Ante, at 738, 744. And it might well be that 
the concerns motivating today's mandatory-general-stay rule 
do not extend beyond arbitration. So the majority will not 
commit, for example, to concluding that appeals over non-
arbitration forum-selection clauses warrant the same manda-
tory stay. Ante, at 746. 
I agree with that hesitation—even one step further down 
this path is much too far. The mandatory-general-stay rule 
that the Court manufactures is unmoored from Congress's 
commands and this Court's precedent. And the windfall 
that the Court gives to defendants seeking arbitration, pre-
ferencing their interests over all others, is entirely unwar-
ranted. The Court now mandates that result no matter how 
unjust that outcome is, according to traditional equitable 
standards, in a given case. This endeavor is unfounded, un-
wise, and—most fundamentally—not our role. 
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Reporter’s Note 
The attached opinion has been revised to refect the usual publication 
and citation style of the United States Reports. The revised pagination 
makes available the offcial United States Reports citation in advance of 
publication. The syllabus has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions 
for the convenience of the reader and constitutes no part of the opinion of 
the Court. A list of counsel who argued or fled briefs in this case, and 
who were members of the bar of this Court at the time this case was 
argued, has been inserted following the syllabus. Other revisions may 
include adjustments to formatting, captions, citation form, and any errant 
punctuation. The following additional edits were made: 
None

Retrieval chunks

• #1

  PRELIMINARY PRINT Volume 599 U. S. Part 1 Pages 736–761 OFFICIAL REPORTS OF THE SUPREME COURT June 23, 2023 REBECCA A. WOMELDORF reporter of decisions Page Proof Pending Publication NOTICE: This preliminary print is subject to formal revision before the bound volume is published. Users are requested to noti…

• #2

  Most courts of appeals to address this question, as well as leading trea- tises, agree with that conclusion. The common practice of staying district court proceedings during the pendency of an interlocutory appeal taken under § 16(a) refects common sense. If the district court could move forward with pre-trial and…

• #3

  rights to an interlocutory appellate determination of arbitrability. In any event, the background Griggs rule applies regardless of how often courts might otherwise grant stays under the ordinary discretionary stay factors. Fifth, while the Court has recognized that questions of arbitrability are severable from me…

• #4

  Justice Association of California by Fred J. Hiestand and Benjamin G. Shatz; for the National Retail Federation by Andrew J. Pincus, Archis A. Parasharami, and Kevin Ranlett; and for the Washington Legal Founda- tion by Cory L. Andrews and John M. Masslon II. Sarah Elizabeth Spencer fled a brief for the DRI Center…

• #5

  v. Physician Computer Network, Inc., 128 F. 3d 504, 506 (CA7 1997). 1 As relevant, the text of § 16(a) provides: “An appeal may be taken from . . . an order . . . “(A) refusing a stay of any action under section 3 of this title, “(B) denying a petition under section 4 of this title to order arbitration to procee…

• #6

  and divests the district court of control over those aspects of the case involved in the appeal”). Page Proof Pending Publication Cite as: 599 U. S. 736 (2023) 741 Opinion of the Court The Griggs principle resolves this case. Because the question on appeal is whether the case belongs in arbitration or instead i…

• #7

  Weingarten Realty Investors v. Miller, 661 F. 3d 904, 907–910 (CA5 2011). Page Proof Pending Publication 742 COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI Opinion of the Court ongoing. For example, Moore's treatise states that a “stay in these circumstances” is “the sounder approach” and “is consistent with the general [Griggs ] pr…

• #8

  Independent School Dist. v. U. S. Mineral Prods. Co., 906 F. 2d 1059, 1063– 1064 (CA5 1990). Page Proof Pending Publication Cite as: 599 U. S. 736 (2023) 743 Opinion of the Court refects common sense. Absent an automatic stay of district court proceedings, Congress's decision in § 16(a) to afford a right to an …

• #9

  Opinion of the Court stay the district court proceedings during that appeal, Con- gress need not say anything about a stay. At least absent contrary indications, the background Griggs principle al- ready requires an automatic stay of district court proceed- ings that relate to any aspect of the case involved in t…

• #10

  that Coinbase's appeal in this case is frivolous. Importantly, moreover, the courts of appeals possess robust tools to pre- vent unwarranted delay and deter frivolous interlocutory ap- peals. For example, a party can ask the court of appeals to summarily affrm, to expedite an interlocutory appeal, or to dismiss t…

• #11

  would create a special, arbitration-preferring procedural rule. That is incorrect. In fact, Bielski's proposed ap- proach would disfavor arbitration. Applying the Griggs rule here simply subjects arbitrability appeals to the same stay principles that courts apply in other analogous contexts where an interlocutory…

• #12

  Griggs, 459 U. S., at 58. The answer is yes, and Moses H. Cone says nothing to the contrary. * * * We conclude that, after Coinbase appealed from the denial of its motion to compel arbitration, the District Court was required to stay its proceedings. On remand, we anticipate that the Ninth Circuit here, as we an…

• #13

  And, in reaching this result, the Court concludes for the frst time that an interlocutory appeal about one matter (arbitra- bility) bars the district court from proceeding on another (the merits). That logic has such signifcant implications for federal litigation that the majority itself shies away from the Pando…

• #14

  appeals. Yet Congress omitted it from § 16, while simulta- neously imposing it in § 1292(d)(4). Second, Congress expressly mandated a general interlocu- tory stay in another provision of the Federal Arbitration Act. Section 3 pertains to a circumstance in which the trial court is “satisfed” that an issue should b…

• #15

  graphs (1) and (2), which authorize permissive appeals “if application is made” and granted. §§ 1292(d)(1)–(2). Meanwhile, paragraph (4) sepa- rately authorizes certain as-of-right appeals, § 1292(d)(4)(A), and it im- poses mandatory stays in such appeals, § 1292(d)(4)(B). In an appeal as of right under paragraph …

• #16

  ibid.—a line that appears nowhere in the majority's cited statutes. At the end of the day, the best the majority can do is point to a smattering of provisions that do not contain the rule that the majority adopts. And those provisions do not even relate to § 16 or the majority's rule (staying litigation gener- a…

• #17

  That statute cemented a background discretionary-stay rule that governed even where Congress was silent—as this Page Proof Pending Publication Cite as: 599 U. S. 736 (2023) 753 Jackson, J., dissenting Court has repeatedly recognized. Shortly after the 1891 Act, a case arose under conditions in which the Act was …

• #18

  Jackson, J., dissenting stay rule) existed as a background matter when Congress enacted § 16 in 1988. Indeed, the majority opinion does not identify a single case in which this Court imposed a manda- tory general stay of pre-trial and trial proceedings pending an interlocutory appeal. Not in an arbitration case. …

• #19

  district court of control over only a narrow slice of the case. The interlocutory appeal addresses an order declining to compel arbitration. Griggs merely prevents the district court from modifying that order—i. e., Griggs prevents the district judge from revisiting whether to compel arbitration while the appeal …

• #20

  its proceedings just because a distinct procedural question was on appeal. In fact, the majority's supercharged version of Griggs con- tradicts its own account of Congress's intent. Consider the statutes that the majority points to as models of how Con- gress would reject a mandatory-general-stay rule. Ante, at …

• #21

  hood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, favorable balance of equities, and alignment with the public interest. See ibid. The majority offers no good reason for that result. The majority says that an automatic stay protects the party seek- ing arbitration and conserves resources in case the dispute “ulti…

• #22

  opposing arbitration loses the benefts of immediate litiga- tion. A plaintiff's request for injunctive protection against imminent harm, for example, goes unanswered under the ma- jority's rule. Similarly, while the majority laments settle- ment pressure on parties seeking arbitration, ibid., the rule it announce…

• #23

  4 For over a decade, the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits have all held that a § 16(a) appeal triggers no mandatory general stay. Motorola Credit Corp. v. Uzan, 388 F. 3d 39, 53–54 (CA2 2004); Britton v. Co-op Banking Group, 916 F. 2d 1405, 1412 (CA9 1990); Weingarten Realty In- vestors v. Miller, 661 F. 3d 904, …

• #24

  (1994). “Such motions can be made in virtually every case.” Ibid. Does every interlocutory appeal concerning a case- dispositive issue now trigger a mandatory general stay of trial court proceedings? Taken that broadly, the mandatory-general-stay rule the Court adopts today would upend federal litigation as we k…

• #25

  makes available the offcial United States Reports citation in advance of publication. The syllabus has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader and constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court. A list of counsel who argued or fled briefs in this case, and who were members of …