SCOTUS Rules that Trial Proceedings Must Be Stayed when Appeal Is Taken from Denial of Motion to Compel Arbitration
By Melinda S. Kollross
Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski, No. 22–105 (U.S. 6-23-23)
The United States Supreme Court in a 5-4 split decision again shows that the Court does not always vote along the same philosophical lines. The Majority opinion, authored by Justice Kavanaugh, resolves a conflict among the federal Circuits arising under the Federal Arbitration Act. According to the Court, when a federal district court denies a motion to compel arbitration, and the losing party takes an interlocutory appeal to the court of appeals pursuant to the statutory right of appeal under 9 U.S.C. sec. 16(a), the district court must stay its pre-trial and trial proceedings during the pendency of the interlocutory appeal. Justice Jackson dissented, and her dissent was joined in by Justices Kagan and Sotomayor, and Justice Thomas joined in most of Justice Jackson’s dissenting opinion.