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2 

COINBASE, INC. v. BIELSKI 

Opinion of the Court 

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).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 
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). 

II 

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

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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) confirming or denying confirmation of an award or partial award, 

or 

“(E) modifying, correcting, or vacating an award.”