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- NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
- preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to
- notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
- ington, D.C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that
- corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press.
- SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
- --------
- No. 93-1199
- --------
- MARVIN STONE, PETITIONER v. IMMIGRATION
- AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE
- on writ of certiorari to the united states court
- of appeals for the sixth circuit
- [April 19, 1995]
-
- Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.
- We consider whether the filing of a timely motion for
- reconsideration of a decision by the Immigration and
- Naturalization Service's Board of Immigration Appeals
- tolls the running of the 90-day period for seeking
- judicial review of the decision.
-
- I
- Petitioner, Marvin Stone, is a citizen of Canada and
- a businessman and lawyer by profession. He entered
- the United States in 1977 as a nonimmigrant visitor for
- business and has since remained in the United States.
- On January 3, 1983, Stone was convicted of conspiracy
- and mail fraud, in violation of 18 U. S. C. 371 and
- 1341. He served 18 months of a 3-year prison term. In
- March 1987, after his release, the INS served him with
- an order to show cause why he should not be deported
- as a nonimmigrant who had remained in the United
- States beyond the period authorized by law. In January
- 1988, after a series of hearings, an Administrative Law
- Judge ordered Stone deported. The ALJ concluded that
- under the regulations in effect when Stone entered the
- United States, an alien on a nonimmigrant for business
- visa could remain in the country for an initial period not
- to exceed six months with the privilege of seeking exten-
- sions, which could be granted in 6-month increments.
- 8 CFR 214.2(b) (1977). The ALJ ordered deportation
- under 8 U. S. C. 1251(a)(2) (now 1251(a)(1)(B) (1988
- ed., Supp. V)) based on petitioner's testimony that he
- had remained in the United States since 1977 without
- seeking any extension. The ALJ denied Stone's applica-
- tion for suspension of deportation under 8 U. S. C.
- 1254(a)(1), concluding that Stone's conviction of mail
- fraud and 18-month incarceration barred him, as a
- matter of law, from establishing -good moral character-
- as required by 1254. See 8 U. S. C. 1101(f)(7).
- Stone's administrative appeals were as follows: he
- appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which
- affirmed the ALJ's determinations and dismissed the
- appeal on July 26, 1991; he filed a -Motion to Reopen
- and/or to Reconsider- with the BIA in August 1991; on
- February 3, 1993, some 17 months later, the BIA denied
- the reconsideration motion as frivolous.
- Judicial review was sought next. The record does not
- give the precise date, but, sometime in February or
- March 1993, Stone petitioned the Court of Appeals for
- the Sixth Circuit for review of both the July 26, 1991,
- deportation order and the February 3, 1993, order
- denying reconsideration. The Court of Appeals dis-
- missed the petition for want of jurisdiction to the extent
- the petition sought review of the July 26, 1991, order,
- the underlying deportation determination. The Court
- held that the filing of the reconsideration motion did not
- toll the running of the 90-day filing period for review of
- final deportation orders. 13 F. 3d 934, 938-939 (CA6
- 1994). We granted certiorari to resolve a conflict among
- the Circuits on the question, compare Akrap v. INS, 966
- F. 2d 267, 271 (CA7 1992); and Nocon v. INS, 789 F. 2d
- 1028, 1033 (CA3 1986) (agreeing that the filing of a
- reconsideration motion does not toll the statutory time
- limit for seeking review of a deportation order), with
- Fleary v. INS, 950 F. 2d 711, 713 (CA11 1992); Pierre v.
- INS, 932 F. 2d 418, 421 (CA5 1991) (per curiam), Attoh
- v. INS, 606 F. 2d 1273, 1275, n. 15 (CADC 1979), and
- Bregman v. INS, 351 F. 2d 401, 402-403 (CA9 1965)
- (holding that a petition to review a deportation order is
- timely if filed within the statutory period following the
- disposition of a timely-filed reconsideration motion), 511
- U. S. ___ (1994). We now affirm.
-
- II
- A
- Section 106(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality
- Act (INA) specifies that -a petition for review [of a final
- deportation order] may be filed not later than 90 days
- after the date of the issuance of the final deportation
- order, or, in the case of an alien convicted of an aggra-
- vated felony, not later than 30 days after the issuance
- of such order.- 8 U. S. C. 1105a(a)(1) (1988 ed., and
- Supp. V). The clause pertaining to an -aggravated
- felony- is not a factor in the analysis, petitioner's offense
- not being within that defined term. See 8 U. S. C.
- 1101(a)(43) (1988 ed., Supp. V). He had the benefit of
- the full 90-day filing period. There is no dispute that a
- deportation order -become[s] final upon dismissal of an
- appeal by the Board of Immigration Appeals,- 8 CFR
- 243.1 (1977), and, the parties agree, the 90-day period
- started on July 26, 1991.
- The parties disagree, however, regarding the effect
- that petitioner's later filing of a timely motion to
- reconsider had on the finality of the order. Petitioner
- contends that a timely motion to reconsider renders the
- underlying order nonfinal, and that a petition seeking
- review of both the order and the reconsideration denial
- is timely if filed (as this petition was) within 90 days of
- the reconsideration denial. The INS argues that the
- finality and reviewability of an order are unaffected by
- the filing of a motion to reconsider or to reopen. In its
- view the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction to review the
- denial of the motion to reconsider but not to review the
- original order.
- We considered the timeliness of a review petition
- where there is a motion to reconsider or reopen an
- agency's order in ICC v. Locomotive Engineers, 482 U. S.
- 270 (1987). The Interstate Commerce Commission's
- governing statute provided that, with certain exceptions,
- judicial review of ICC orders would be governed by the
- Hobbs Act, 28 U. S. C. 2341 et seq. See Locomotive
- Engineers, 482 U. S., at 277. We held that -the timely
- petition for administrative reconsideration stayed the
- running of the Hobbs Act's limitation period until the
- petition had been acted upon by the Commission.- Id.,
- at 284. Our conclusion, we acknowledged, was in some
- tension with the language of both the Hobbs Act, which
- permits an aggrieved party to petition for review -within
- 60 days after [the] entry- of a final order, 28 U. S. C.
- 2344, and of 49 U. S. C. 10327(i), -which provides
- that, `[n]otwithstanding' the provision authorizing the
- Commission to reopen and reconsider its orders
- (10327(g)), `an action of the Commission . . . is final on
- the date on which it is served, and a civil action to
- enforce, enjoin, suspend, or set aside the action may be
- filed after that date.'- Locomotive Engineers, 482 U. S.,
- at 284. We found the controlling language similar to
- the corresponding provision of the Administrative
- Procedure Act (APA), 5 U. S. C. 704, which provides
- that -agency action otherwise final is final for the
- purposes of this section [entitled `Actions Reviewable']
- whether or not there has been presented or determined
- an application for . . . any form of reconsideratio[n]--
- -language [that] has long been construed . . . merely to
- relieve parties from the requirement of petitioning for
- rehearing before seeking judicial review . . . but not to
- prevent petitions for reconsideration that are actually
- filed from rendering the orders under reconsideration
- nonfinal.- Locomotive Engineers, supra, at 284-285.
- In support of that longstanding construction of the
- APA language, we cited dicta in two earlier cases,
- American Farm Lines v. Black Ball Freight Service, 397
- U. S. 532, 541 (1970); CAB v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 367
- U. S. 316, 326-327 (1961), and the holding in Outland
- v. CAB, 284 F. 2d 224, 227 (CADC 1960), a decision
- cited with approval in both Black Ball and Delta.
- Outland justified treating orders as nonfinal for purpos-
- es of review during the pendency of a motion for
- reconsideration in terms of judicial economy: -[W]hen the
- party elects to seek a rehearing there is always the
- possibility that the order complained of will be modified
- in a way which renders judicial review unnecessary.-
- Outland, supra, at 227.
- As construed in Locomotive Engineers both the APA
- and the Hobbs Act embrace a tolling rule: The timely
- filing of a motion to reconsider renders the underlying
- order nonfinal for purposes of judicial review. In
- consequence, pendency of reconsideration renders the
- underlying decision not yet final, and it is implicit in
- the tolling rule that a party who has sought rehearing
- cannot seek judicial review until the rehearing has
- concluded. 4 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise
- 26:12 (2d ed. 1988). United Transportation Union v.
- ICC, 871 F. 2d 1114, 1118 (CADC 1989); Bellsouth Corp.
- v. FCC, 17 F. 3d 1487, 1489-1490 (CADC 1994).
- Indeed, those Circuits that apply the tolling rule have so
- held. See Fleary, 950 F. 2d, at 711-712 (deportation
- order not reviewable during pendency of motion to
- reopen); Hyun Joon Chung v. INS, 720 F. 2d 1471, 1474
- (CA9 1984) (same).
- Section 106 of the INA provides that -[t]he procedure
- prescribed by, and all the provisions of chapter 158 of
- title 28, shall apply to, and shall be the sole and
- exclusive procedure for, the judicial review of all final
- orders of deportation . . . .- 8 U. S. C. 1105a(a) (1988
- ed. and Supp. IV). The reference to chapter 158 of Title
- 28 is a reference to the Hobbs Act. In light of our
- construction of the Hobbs Act in Locomotive Engineers,
- had Congress used that Act to govern review of deporta-
- tion orders without further qualification, it would follow
- that the so-called tolling rule applied.
- The INS, however, proffers a different reading of
- Locomotive Engineers. Relying on our statement that
- 704 of the APA has been construed -not to prevent
- petitions for reconsideration that are actually filed from
- rendering the orders under reconsideration nonfinal,- 482
- U. S., at 285 (emphasis supplied), the INS understands
- Locomotive Engineers to set forth merely a default rule
- from which agencies may choose to depart. It argues
- that it did so here.
- If the case turned on this theory, the question would
- arise whether an agency subject to either the APA or
- the Hobbs Act has the authority to specify whether the
- finality of its orders for purposes of judicial review is
- affected by the filing of a motion to reconsider. The
- question is not presented here. Both the Hobbs Act and
- the APA are congressional enactments, and Congress
- may alter or modify their application in the case of
- particular agencies. We conclude that in amending the
- INA Congress chose to depart from the ordinary judicial
- treatment of agency orders under reconsideration.
-
- B
- Congress directed that the Hobbs Act procedures
- would govern review of deportation orders, except for 10
- specified qualifications. See 8 U. S. C. 1105a(a). Two
- of those exceptions are pertinent. The first, contained
- in 106(a)(1) of the INA, provides an alien with 90 days
- to petition for review of a final deportation order (30
- days for aliens convicted of an aggravated felony),
- instead of the Hobbs Act's 60-day period. See 8
- U. S. C. 1105(a)(1). The second and decisive exception
- is contained in 106(a)(6), a provision added when Con-
- gress amended the INA in 1990. The section provides:
- -[W]henever a petitioner seeks review of an order
- under this section, any review sought with respect
- to a motion to reopen or reconsider such an order
- shall be consolidated with the review of the order.-
- By its terms, 106(a)(6) contemplates two petitions for
- review and directs the courts to consolidate the matters.
- The words of the statute do not permit us to say that
- the filing of a petition for reconsideration or reopening
- dislodges the earlier proceeding reviewing the underlying
- order. The statute, in fact, directs that the motion to
- reopen or reconsider is to be consolidated with the
- review of the order, not the other way around. This
- indicates to us that the action to review the underlying
- order remains active and pending before the court. We
- conclude that the statute is best understood as reflecting
- an intent on the part of Congress that deportation
- orders are to be reviewed in a timely fashion after
- issuance, irrespective of the later filing of a motion to
- reopen or reconsider.
- Were a motion for reconsideration to render the
- underlying order nonfinal, there would be, in the normal
- course, only one petition for review filed and hence
- nothing for the judiciary to consolidate. As in Locomo-
- tive Engineers itself, review would be sought after denial
- of reconsideration, and both the underlying order and
- the denial of reconsideration would be reviewed in a
- single proceeding, in so far, at least, as denial of
- reconsideration would be reviewable at all. See Locomo-
- tive Engineers, 482 U. S., at 280. Indeed, the Ninth
- Circuit, which before the 1990 amendment had held that
- pendency of a reconsideration motion did render a
- deportation order nonfinal, understood that the tolling
- rule contemplates just one petition for review: -Congress
- visualized a single administrative proceeding in which
- all questions relating to an alien's deportation would be
- raised and resolved, followed by a single petition in a
- court of appeals for judicial review . . . .- Yamada v.
- INS, 384 F. 2d 214, 218 (CA9 1967). The tolling rule is
- hard to square with the existence of two separate
- judicial review proceedings.
- Under the no-tolling rule, by contrast, two separate
- petitions for review will exist in the normal course. An
- order would be final when issued, irrespective of the
- later filing of a reconsideration motion, and the ag-
- grieved party would seek judicial review of the order
- within the specified period. Upon denial of reconsidera-
- tion, the petitioner would file a separate petition to
- review that second final order. Because it appears that
- only the no-tolling rule could give rise to two separate
- petitions for review simultaneously before the courts,
- which it is plain 106(a)(6) contemplates, it would seem
- that only that rule gives meaning to the section.
- Although the consolidation provision does not mention
- tolling, see post, at ___ (Breyer, J., dissenting), tolling
- would be the logical consequence if the statutory scheme
- provided for the nonfinality of orders upon the filing of
- a reconsideration motion. Locomotive Engineers' conclu-
- sion as to tolling followed as a necessary consequence
- from its conclusion about finality. Finality is the
- antecedent question, and as to that matter the consolida-
- tion provision speaks volumes. All would agree that the
- provision envisions two petitions for review. See post,
- at ___ (Breyer, J., dissenting). Because only -final
- deportation order[s]- may be reviewed, 8 U. S. C.
- 1105a(a)(1), it follows by necessity that the provision
- requires for its operation the existence of two separate
- final orders, the petitions for review of which could be
- consolidated. The two orders cannot remain final and
- hence the subject of separate petitions for review if the
- filing of the reconsideration motion rendered the original
- order nonfinal. It follows that the filing of the reconsid-
- eration motion does not toll the time to petition for
- review. By speaking to finality, the consolidation
- provision does say quite a bit about tolling.
- Recognizing this problem, petitioner at oral argument
- sought to give meaning to 106(a)(6) by offering a
- different version of what often might occur. Petitioner
- envisioned an alien who petitioned for review of a final
- deportation order, and, while the petition was still
- pending, went back to the agency to seek its reconsider-
- ation or, if new evidence had arisen, reopening. If, upon
- denial of reconsideration or reopening, the alien sought
- review, and the review of the original order were still
- pending, 106(a)(6) would apply and the two petitions
- would be consolidated. The dissent relies on the same
- assumed state of events. See post, at ___.
- That construct, however, is premised on a view of
- finality quite inconsistent with the tolling rule petitioner
- himself proposes. If, as petitioner advocates, the filing
- of a timely petition for reconsideration before seeking
- judicial review renders the underlying order nonfinal, so
- that a reviewing court would lack jurisdiction to review
- the order until after disposition of the reconsideration
- motion, one wonders how a court retains jurisdiction
- merely because the petitioner delays the reconsideration
- motions until after filing the petition for judicial review
- of the underlying order. The policy supporting the
- nonfinality rule-that -when the party elects to seek a
- rehearing there is always a possibility that the order
- complained of will be modified in a way which renders
- judicial review unnecessary,- Outland, 284 F. 2d, at
- 227-applies with equal force where the party seeks
- agency rehearing after filing a petition for judicial
- review. Indeed, the Court of Appeals for the District of
- Columbia Circuit, whose decision in Outland we cited in
- support of our construction in Locomotive Engineers, has
- so held in the years following our decision. See Wade
- v. FCC, 986 F. 2d 1433, 1434 (CADC 1993) (per curiam)
- (-The danger of wasted judicial effort . . . arises whether
- a party seeks agency reconsideration before, simulta-
- neous with, or after filing an appeal or petition for
- judicial review-) (citations omitted). The Wade holding
- rested on, and is consistent with, our decision in a
- somewhat analogous context that the filing of a Rule 59
- motion to alter or amend a district court's judgment
- strips the appellate court of jurisdiction, whether the
- Rule 59 motion is filed before or after the notice of
- appeal. See Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co.,
- 459 U. S. 56, 61 (1982) (per curiam). Our decision,
- based on a construction of Fed. Rule App. Proc. 4(a)(4),
- noted the -theoretical inconsistency- of permitting the
- district court to retain jurisdiction to decide the Rule 59
- motion while treating the notice of appeal as -adequate
- for purposes of beginning the appeals process.- Griggs,
- supra, at 59.
- We need not confirm the correctness of the Wade
- decision, but neither should we go out of our way to say
- it is incorrect, as the petitioner and the dissent would
- have us do. The inconsistency in petitioner's construc-
- tion of 106(a)(6) is the same inconsistency that we
- noted in Griggs. The petitioner assumes that a recon-
- sideration motion renders the underlying order nonfinal
- if the motion is filed before a petition for review but
- that finality is unaffected if the reconsideration motion
- is filed one day after the petition for review. It is
- implausible that Congress would direct different results
- in the two circumstances. At any rate, under
- petitioner's construction the consolidation provision
- would have effect only in the rarest of circumstances.
- When Congress acts to amend a statute, we presume
- it intends its amendment to have real and substantial
- effect. See Reiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U. S. 330, 339
- (1979) (Court must construe statute to give effect, if
- possible, to every provision); Moskal v. United States,
- 498 U. S. 103, 109-111 (1990) (same). Had Congress
- intended review of INS orders to proceed in a manner
- no different than review of other agencies, as petitioner
- appears to argue, there would have been no reason for
- Congress to have included the consolidation provision.
- The reasonable construction is that the amendment was
- enacted as an exception, not just to state an already
- existing rule. Section 106(a)(6) is an explicit exception
- to the general applicability of the Hobbs Act procedures,
- so it must be construed as creating a procedure different
- from normal practice under the Act. We conclude, as
- did the Court of Appeals, see 13 F. 3d, at 938, and the
- Seventh Circuit, see Akrap, 966 F. 2d, at 271, that the
- consolidation provision Congress inserted when it
- amended the Act in 1990 is best understood as reflecting
- its expectation that in the particular context of INS
- deportation orders the normal tolling rule will not apply.
-
- C
- Underlying considerations of administrative and
- judicial efficiency, as well as fairness to the alien,
- support our conclusion that Congress intended to depart
- from the conventional tolling rule in deportation cases.
- Deportation orders are self-executing orders, not
- dependent upon judicial enforcement. This accounts for
- the automatic stay mechanism, the statutory provision
- providing that service of the petition for review of the
- deportation order stays the deportation absent contrary
- direction from the court or the alien's aggravated felony
- status. See 8 U. S. C. 1105a(a)(3). The automatic stay
- would be all but a necessity for preserving the jurisdic-
- tion of the court, for the agency might not otherwise
- refrain from enforcement. Indeed, the INA provides that
- -nothing in this section [Judicial review of orders of
- deportation and exclusion] shall be construed to require
- the Attorney General to defer deportation of an alien
- after the issuance of a deportation order because of the
- right of judicial review of the order granted by this
- section.- 8 U. S. C. 1105a(a)(8) (1988 ed., Supp. V).
- And it has been the longstanding view of the INS, a
- view we presume Congress understood when it amended
- the Act in 1990, that a motion for reconsideration does
- not serve to stay the deportation order. 8 CFR 3.8
- (1977). Cf. Delta Air Lines, 367 U. S., at 325-327
- (certificate of public convenience and necessity effective
- when issued though not final for purposes of judicial
- review because of pendency of reconsideration motion).
- Were the tolling rule to apply here, aliens subject to
- deportation orders might well face a Hobson's choice:
- petition for agency reconsideration at the risk of immedi-
- ate deportation, or forego reconsideration and petition
- for review to obtain the automatic stay. The choice is
- a hard one in deportation cases, in that the consequenc-
- es of deportation are so final, unlike orders in some
- other administrative contexts. Once an alien has been
- deported, the courts lack jurisdiction to review the
- deportation order's validity. See 8 U. S. C. 1105a(c).
- This choice is one Congress might not have wished to
- impose on the alien.
- An alien who had filed for agency reconsideration
- might seek to avoid immediate deportation by seeking a
- judicial stay. At oral argument, the petitioner suggested
- a habeas corpus action as one solution to the dilemma.
- Even on the assumption that a habeas corpus action
- would be available, see 8 U. S. C. 1105a(a) (Exclusive-
- ness of procedure), the solution is unsatisfactory. In
- evaluating those stay applications the courts would be
- required to assess the probability of the alien's prevail-
- ing on review, turning the stay proceedings into collater-
- al previews of the eventual petitions for review-indeed
- a preview now implicating the district court, not just the
- court of appeals. By inviting duplicative review in
- multiple courts, the normal tolling rule would frustrate,
- rather than promote, its stated goal of judicial economy.
- From an even more fundamental standpoint, the
- policies of the tolling rule are at odds with Congress'
- policy in adopting the judicial review provisions of the
- INA. The tolling rule reflects a preference to postpone
- judicial review to ensure completion of the administra-
- tive process. Reconsideration might eliminate the need
- for judicial intervention, and the resultant saving in
- judicial resources ought not to be diminished by prema-
- ture adjudication. By contrast, Congress' -fundamental
- purpose- in enacting 106 of the INA was -to abbreviate
- the process of judicial review . . . in order to frustrate
- certain practices . . . whereby persons subject to deporta-
- tion were forestalling departure by dilatory tactics in the
- courts.- Foti v. INS, 375 U. S. 217, 224 (1963).
- Congress' concern reflected the reality that -in a depor-
- tation proceeding . . . as a general matter, every delay
- works to the advantage of the deportable alien who
- wishes merely to remain in the United States.- INS v.
- Doherty, 502 U. S. 314, 321-325 (1992). Congress'
- intent in adopting and then amending the INA was to
- expedite both the initiation and the completion of the
- judicial review process. The tolling rule's policy of
- delayed review would be at odds with the congressional
- purpose.
- The dissent does not dispute that a principal purpose
- of the 1990 amendments to the INA was to expedite
- petitions for review and to redress the related problem
- of successive and frivolous administrative appeals and
- motions. In the Immigration Act of 1990, Pub. L.
- 101-649, 104 Stat. 5048, Congress took five steps to
- reduce or eliminate these abuses. First, it directed the
- Attorney General to promulgate regulations limiting the
- number of reconsideration and reopening motions that
- an alien could file. 545(b). Second, it instructed the
- Attorney General to promulgate regulations specifying
- the maximum time period for the filing of those motions,
- hinting that a 20-day period would be appropriate. See
- ibid. Third, Congress cut in half the time for seeking
- judicial review of the final deportation order, from 180
- to 90 days. See ibid. Fourth, Congress directed the
- Attorney General to define -frivolous behavior for which
- attorneys may be sanctioned- in connection with admin-
- istrative appeals and motions. See ibid., 545(a). In
- the dissent's view, a fifth measure, the consolidation
- provision, was added for no apparent reason and bears
- no relation to the other amendments Congress enacted
- at the same time. It is more plausible that when
- Congress took the first four steps to solve a problem, the
- fifth-the consolidation provision-was also part of the
- solution, and not a step in the other direction. By
- envisioning that a final deportation order will remain
- final and reviewable for 90 days from the date of its
- issuance irrespective of the later filing of a reconsidera-
- tion motion, Congress' amendment eliminates much if
- not all of the incentive to file a meritless reconsideration
- motion, and, like the other amendments adopted at the
- same time, expedites the time within which the judicial
- review process of the deportation order begins.
-
- D
- A consideration of the analogous practice of appellate
- court review of district court judgments confirms the
- correctness of our construction of Congress' language.
- The closest analogy to the INS' discretionary petition for
- agency reconsideration is the Rule 60(b) motion for relief
- from judgment. The effect of Rule 60(b) motions (at
- least when made more than 10 days after judgment, an
- exception discussed below), on the finality and appeal-
- ability of district court judgments is comparable to the
- effect of reconsideration motions on INS orders. With
- the exception noted, the filing of a Rule 60(b) motion
- does not toll the running of the time for taking an
- appeal, see Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 60(b); 11 C. Wright &
- A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure 2871 (1973)
- (Wright & Miller), and the pendency of the motion
- before the district court does not affect the continuity of
- a prior-taken appeal. See ibid. And last but not least,
- the pendency of an appeal does not affect the district
- court's power to grant Rule 60 relief. See Standard Oil
- Co. of Cal. v. United States, 429 U. S. 17, 18-19 (1976)
- (per curiam); Wright & Miller, 2873 (1994 Supp.). A
- litigant faced with an unfavorable district court judg-
- ment must appeal that judgment within the time
- allotted by Fed. Rule App. Proc. 4, whether or not the
- litigant first files a Rule 60(b) motion (where the Rule
- 60 motion is filed more than 10 days following judg-
- ment). Either before or after filing his appeal, the
- litigant may also file a Rule 60(b) motion for relief with
- the district court. The denial of the motion is appeal-
- able as a separate final order, and if the original appeal
- is still pending it would seem that the court of appeals
- can consolidate the proceedings. In each of these
- respects, the practice of litigants under Rule 60(b) is,
- under our construction, identical to that of aliens who
- file motions for reconsideration before the BIA. In each
- case two separate post-decision appeals are filed.
- For reasons not relevant here, in 1991 the Rules of
- Appellate Procedure were amended to provide that Rule
- 60(b) motions filed within 10 days of a district court's
- judgment do toll the time for taking an appeal. See
- Fed. Rule App. Proc. 4(a)(4)(F). That amendment added
- Rule 60(b) motions filed within 10 days of judgment to
- a list of other post-trial motions that toll the running of
- the time for appeal, a list that includes Rule 59 motions
- to alter or amend a judgment. See Fed. Rule App. Proc.
- 4(a)(4)(C). A consideration of this provision of the
- appellate rules is quite revealing. The list of post-trial
- motions that toll the time for appeal is followed, and
- hence qualified, by the language interpreted in Griggs,
- language that provides in express terms that these
- motions also serve to divest the appellate court of
- jurisdiction where the motions are filed after appeal is
- taken.
- The language of Rule 4 undermines the dissent's
- reliance on a presumption that appellate court jurisdic-
- tion once asserted is not divested by further proceedings
- at the trial or agency level. See post, at ___. Indeed,
- the practice is most often to the contrary where appel-
- late court review of district court judgments subject to
- post-trial motions is concerned. See Fed. Rule App.
- Proc. 4(a)(4) (specifying that the majority of post-judg-
- ment motions filed with the district court divest the
- appellate court of jurisdiction that had once existed). A
- district court judgment subject to one of these enumerat-
- ed motions, typified by Rule 59, is reviewable only after,
- and in conjunction with, review of the denial of the post-
- trial motion, and just one appeal pends before the
- appellate court at any one time.
- In short, the Rules of Appellate Procedure evince a
- consistent and coherent view of the finality and appeal-
- ability of district court judgments subject to post-trial
- motions. The majority of post-trial motions, such as
- Rule 59, render the underlying judgment nonfinal both
- when filed before an appeal is taken (thus tolling the
- time for taking an appeal), and when filed after the
- notice of appeal (thus divesting the appellate court of
- jurisdiction). Other motions, such as Rule 60(b) motions
- filed more than 10 days after judgment, do not affect the
- finality of a district court's judgment, either when filed
- before the appeal (no tolling), or afterwards (appellate
- court jurisdiction not divested). Motions that do toll the
- time for taking appeal give rise to only one appeal in
- which all matters are reviewed; motions that do not toll
- the time for taking an appeal give rise to two separate
- appellate proceedings that can be consolidated.
-
- E
- Our colleagues in dissent agree that the consolidation
- provision envisions the existence of two separate peti-
- tions for review. See post, at ___. To give the provision
- meaning while at the same time concluding that the
- tolling rule applies, the dissent is compelled to conclude
- that a reconsideration motion before the BIA renders the
- original order nonfinal if made before a petition for
- judicial review is filed but does not affect the finality of
- the order if filed afterwards. See post, at ___. The
- hybrid tolling rule the dissent suggests has no analogue
- at all in the appellate court-district court context. On
- the contrary, as we have just observed, the uniform
- principle where appellate review of district court judg-
- ments is concerned is that motions that toll produce but
- one appeal, motions that do not toll produce two. It is
- only by creating this new hybrid that the dissent can
- give meaning to the consolidation provision, and avoid
- the Hobson's choice for the alien. While litigants who
- practice before the district courts and the BIA will have
- familiarity with both types of post-trial motions dis-
- cussed above, and will have no difficulty practicing
- under the rule we announce today, practitioners would
- have no familiarity with the hybrid tolling rule the
- dissent is compelled to devise in order to give the
- consolidation provision meaning.
- It is worthwhile pausing to consider just how many
- steps the dissent must take to reconcile the consolidation
- provision with the tolling rule it prefers. The dissent's
- construction would require that the Court conclude,
- without any briefing, that our decision in Griggs does
- not apply to agency review. The dissent would as well
- disrupt administrative law in general by overturning the
- practice of the circuit court with the most experience
- reviewing agency decisions when faced with agency
- reconsideration motions made after petition for review
- (the District of Columbia Circuit), thereby resolving a
- circuit split without any briefing or argument. See post,
- at ___. Our construction avoids each of these extraordi-
- nary steps. It creates a practice parallel to that of
- appellate courts reviewing district court judgments
- subject to pending Rule 60(b) motions filed more than 10
- days after judgment and requires us to take no firm
- position on whether Griggs applies to agency review
- where tolling does occur.
- But the full import of our decision in Griggs, and the
- concomitant problem addressed in Wade, are in some
- sense secondary to our fundamental point of dispute
- with the dissent. In our view the consolidation provi-
- sion reflects Congress' intent to depart from the normal
- tolling rule in this context, whereas on the dissent's
- view it does not. Congress itself was explicit in stating
- that the consolidation provision is an exception to the
- applicability of the Hobbs Act procedures, see supra, at
- ___, and it took the deliberate step of amending the Act
- in 1990 to add the provision. The challenge for the
- dissent is not, then, just to give the consolidation
- provision some work to do that is consistent with the
- tolling rule, but to give it some work as an exception to
- the applicability of the Hobbs Act procedures, a meaning
- that explains why Congress might have taken trouble to
- add it. The dissent's construction of the consolidation
- provision gives it effect, if any, only in what must be
- those rare instances where aliens first petition for
- judicial review and then seek agency reconsideration.
- And, more important, its construction cannot account for
- Congress' decision to amend the Act in 1990 to provide
- that the Hobbs Act procedures, which in the normal
- course include the tolling rule, shall apply -except- for
- the consolidation provision.
-
- F
- Whatever assessment Congress might have made in
- enacting the judicial review provisions of the INA in the
- first instance, we conclude from the consolidation
- provision added in 1990 that it envisioned two separate
- petitions filed to review two separate final orders. To be
- sure, it would have been preferable for Congress to have
- spoken with greater clarity. Judicial review provisions,
- however, are jurisdictional in nature and must be
- construed with strict fidelity to their terms. As we have
- explained:
- -Section 106(a) is intended exclusively to prescribe
- and regulate a portion of the jurisdiction of the
- federal courts. As a jurisdictional statute, it must
- be construed both with precision and with fidelity to
- the terms by which Congress has expressed its
- wishes.- Cheng Fan Kwok v. INS, 392 U. S. 206,
- 212 (1968).
- This is all the more true of statutory provisions specify-
- ing the timing of review, for those time limits are, as we
- have often stated, -mandatory and jurisdictional,-
- Missouri v. Jenkins, 495 U. S. 33, 45 (1990), and are not
- subject to equitable tolling. See Fed. Rule App. Proc.
- 26(b).
- * * *
- The consolidation provision in 106(a)(6) reflects
- Congress' understanding that a deportation order is
- final, and reviewable, when issued. Its finality is not
- affected by the subsequent filing of a motion to reconsid-
- er. The order being final when issued, an alien has 90
- days from that date to seek review. The alien, if he
- chooses, may also seek agency reconsideration of the
- order and seek review of the disposition upon reconsider-
- ation within 90 days of its issuance. Where the original
- petition is still before the court, the court shall consoli-
- date the two petitions. See 8 U. S. C. 106(a)(6).
- Because Stone's petition was filed more than 90 days
- after the issuance of the BIA's July 26, 1991, decision,
- the Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to review that
- order.
- The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
-
- It is so ordered.
-