§1407 Judicial Review of Board Decisions and Enforcement

Summary

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit must hear certain petitions to review final decisions by the Board and to enforce those decisions. People who can file include a party harmed by a final Board decision in part A cases, a charging individual or a respondent who files under 1331(d)(4), and the General Counsel or a respondent who files under 1341(c)(5) or 1351(c)(3). The court also hears enforcement petitions the General Counsel brings under 1405(g) or 1406(e) about violations of parts A, B, C, or D. If someone other than the General Counsel files, the Office must be named as the party who answers, and any other Board party can become a respondent by filing a notice within 30 days after the petition is served. If the General Counsel files certain petitions, the winning party in the Board’s decision is the respondent and others may be named within 30 days. Any Board participant not named can still intervene. Chapter 158 of title 28 applies with changes: service goes to the General Counsel (not the Attorney General), section 2348’s authority does not apply, the petition for review must be filed no later than 90 days after the final decision is entered in the Office, and the Office counts as an “agency.” The court will decide legal and constitutional questions, review the whole record, and must overturn a Board decision if it is arbitrary, does not follow required procedures, or is not supported by substantial evidence, taking account of prejudicial error.