Cite as: 514 U. S. 35 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
Morgan was not a policymaker for the county in the area of law enforcement, the Eleventh Circuit reversed the District Court's order denying the county commission's motion for summary judgment. Id., at 1450-1451. The Eleventh Circuit declined to exercise pendent appellate jurisdiction over the city's appeal because the District Court had not yet decided whether Wadley Police Chief Freddie Morgan was a policymaker for the city. Id., at 1451-1452.1
We granted certiorari to review the Court of Appeals' decision that Sheriff Morgan is not a policymaker for Chambers County. 512 U. S. 1204 (1994). We then instructed the parties to file supplemental briefs addressing this question: Given the Eleventh Circuit's jurisdiction to review immediately the District Court's refusal to grant summary judgment for the individual defendants in response to their pleas of qualified immunity, did the Circuit Court also have jurisdiction to review at once the denial of the county commission's summary judgment motion? 513 U. S. 958 (1994). We now hold that the Eleventh Circuit should have dismissed the county commission's appeal for want of jurisdiction.
II
We inquire first whether the denial of the county commission's summary judgment motion was appealable as a collateral order. The answer, as the Court of Appeals recognized, is a firm "No."
By statute, federal courts of appeals have "jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of the district courts," except where direct review may be had in this Court. 28 U. S. C. § 1291. "The collateral order doctrine is best understood not as an exception to the 'final decision' rule laid down by Con-1 On Sheriff James C. Morgan's suggestion for rehearing en banc, the Eleventh Circuit modified its opinion with respect to an issue not relevant here and denied rehearing en banc. 11 F. 3d 1030 (1994).
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