Smith v. Spizzirri

Decided May 16, 2024. Sonia Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 22-1218 · 601 U.S. 472 (2024) · Cited 281 times

Holding

When a district court finds that a lawsuit involves an arbitrable dispute and a party has requested a stay of the court proceeding pending arbitration, §3 of the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U. S. C. §3, compels the court to issue a stay, and the court lacks discretion to dismiss the suit.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Lexecon Inc. v. Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach · 523 U.S. 26 (1998)
• Degen v. United States · 517 U.S. 820 (1996)
• Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. · 460 U.S. 1 (1983)
• Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Allapattah Services, Inc. · 545 U.S. 546 (2005)
• Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. v. Byrd · 470 U.S. 213 (1985)
• Green Tree Financial Corp.-Alabama v. Randolph · 531 U.S. 79 (2000)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela · 587 U.S. 176 (2019)
• Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski · 599 U.S. 736 (2023)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Waetzig v. Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. · 604 U.S. 305 (2025)
• CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd. v. Antrix Corp. · 605 U.S. 223 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

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Sonia Sotomayor’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2024). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).