878
Opinion of the Court
distinguish it from other arguable rights to be trial free is simply that such a right by agreement does not rise to the level of importance needed for recognition under § 1291. This, indeed, is the bone of the fiercest contention in the case. In disparaging any distinction between an order denying a claim grounded on an explicit constitutional guarantee of immunity from trial and an order at odds with an equally explicit right by private agreement of the parties, Digital stresses that the relative "importance" of these rights, heavily relied upon by the Court of Appeals, is a rogue factor. No decision of this Court, Digital maintains, has held an order unappealable as "unimportant" when it has otherwise met the three Cohen requirements, and whether a decided issue is thought "important," it says, should have no bearing on whether it is "final" under § 1291.
If "finality" were as narrow a concept as Digital maintains, however, the Court would have had little reason to go beyond the first factor in Cohen, see also United States v. 243.22 Acres of Land in Babylon, Suffolk Cty., 129 F. 2d 678, 680 (CA2 1942) (Frank, J.) (" 'Final' is not a clear one-purpose word"). And if "importance" were truly aberrational, we would not find it featured so prominently in the Cohen opinion itself, which describes the "small class" of immediately appealable prejudgment decisions in terms of rights that are "too important to be denied review" right away, see 337 U. S., at 546. To be sure, Digital may validly question whether "importance" is a factor "beyond" the three Cohen conditions or whether it is best considered, as we have sometimes suggested it should be, in connection with the second, "separability," requirement, see, e. g., Coopers & Lybrand, 437 U. S., at 468; Lauro Lines, 490 U. S., at 498, but neither enquiry could lead to the conclusion that "importance" is itself unimportant. To the contrary, the third Cohen question, whether a right is "adequately vindicable" or "effectively reviewable," simply cannot be answered without a judgment about the value of the interests that would be lost
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