510
Per Curiam
Id., at 37 (quoting Steelworkers v. American Mfg. Co., 363 U. S. 564, 568 (1960)). When the judiciary does so, "it usurps a function which . . . is entrusted to the arbitration tribunal." Id., at 569; see also Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., supra, at 599 ("It is the arbitrator's construction [of the agreement] which was bargained for . . ."). Consistent with this limited role, we said in Misco that "[e]ven in the very rare instances when an arbitrator's procedural aberrations rise to the level of affirmative misconduct, as a rule the court must not fore-close further proceedings by settling the merits according to its own judgment of the appropriate result." 484 U. S., at 40-41, n. 10. That step, we explained, "would improperly substitute a judicial determination for the arbitrator's decision that the parties bargained for" in their agreement. Ibid. Instead, the court should "simply vacate the award, thus leaving open the possibility of further proceedings if they are permitted under the terms of the agreement." Ibid.
To be sure, the Court of Appeals here recited these principles, but its application of them is nothing short of baffling. The substance of the court's discussion reveals that it overturned the arbitrator's decision because it disagreed with the arbitrator's factual findings, particularly those with respect to credibility. The Court of Appeals, it appears, would have credited Smith's 1996 letter, and found the arbitrator's refusal to do so at worst "irrational" and at best "bizarre." Garvey I, 203 F. 3d, at 590-591. But even "serious error" on the arbitrator's part does not justify overturning his decision, where, as here, he is construing a contract and acting within the scope of his authority. Misco, supra, at 38.
In Garvey II, the court clarified that Garvey I both rejected the arbitrator's findings and went further, resolving the merits of the parties' dispute based on the court's assessment of the record before the arbitrator. For that reason, the court found further arbitration proceedings inappropri-
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