Cite as: 523 U. S. 866 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
the lawsuit but were not parties to the arbitration.) Preferring to pursue their challenges to ALPA's agency-fee calculation in the context of their ongoing federal-court action, the respondent-objectors asked the AAA to suspend the arbitration. The AAA referred that request to the arbitrator, who declined to defer to the federal-court litigation. Id., at 106. After the District Court denied a motion to enjoin the arbitration, id., at 111-114, respondents' counsel entered a "conditional appearance" in the arbitral proceedings. The arbitrator held hearings in January, February, and March 1994. He ultimately sustained the Union's agency-fee calculation in substantial part, although he concluded that "nongermane" expenses made up 21.49 percent of the union's budget, not 19 percent as the Union had determined. App. to Pet. for Cert. 71a-115a, 158a-161a.
After the arbitrator issued his decision, ALPA moved for summary judgment in the federal-court action. Granting the motion, the District Court concluded that pilots seeking to challenge the Union's agency-fee calculation must exhaust arbitral remedies before proceeding in court. Id., at 26a- 31a. Accordingly, the court held, the 62 respondents who did not join the arbitration were bound by the arbitrator's decision. Id., at 32a. The other 91 respondents, the District Court ruled, qualified for clear-error review of the arbitrator's factfindings and de novo review of all legal issues. Id., at 31a. Determining that the arbitrator had committed no error of law or clear error of fact, the court sustained his decision.
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed. 108 F. 3d 1415 (1997). That court found "no legal basis" for requiring objectors to arbitrate agency-fee challenges unless they had agreed to do so (as respondents had not). Id., at 1421 (emphasis deleted). It therefore concluded that "the arbitrator's decision [was] no longer a part of the legal picture," and for that reason the case "must be remanded." Id., at 1422. We granted certiorari, 522 U. S.
871
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