Thompson

The State of Hawaii and other respondents appeal the district court’s order staying a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition filed by James Thompson, a Hawaii state prisoner, who is serving a sentence of life with possibility of parole and other concurrent sentences after his conviction of several counts of sexual assault, attempt, and kidnapping. The district court stayed proceedings in the case pending exhaustion of his unexhausted claims in state court. We conclude we lack appellate jurisdiction over the interlocutory appeal and dismiss it.

By statute, Courts of Appeals “have jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of the district courts of the United States....” 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . A final decision is typically one “by which a district court disassociates itself from a case.” Swint v. Chambers County Comm’n, 514 U.S. 35, 42 , 115 S.Ct. 1203 , 131 L.Ed.2d 60 (1995). The Supreme Court “has long given § 1291 a practical rather than a technical construction.” Mohawk Indus., Inc. v. Carpenter, — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 599, 605 , — L.Ed.2d - (2009) (citing Cohen v. Benefit Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 546 , 69 S.Ct. 1221 , 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949)).

Under the collateral order…