§1407 Judicial Review of Board Decisions and Enforcement

Summary

Gives the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit the power to review and enforce final decisions by the Board in certain cases. People who can ask the court to review a Board decision include someone harmed by a final Board ruling, a charging individual or a respondent who files certain petitions, and the General Counsel or a respondent who files other specific petitions (the law names the exact sections). The court alone can overturn, suspend, or decide if a Board decision is valid. The court also handles petitions by the General Counsel to enforce final Board decisions about violations of parts A, B, C, or D of subchapter II. Who is named as the opposing party depends on who files. If a private party files, the Office is the respondent; if the General Counsel files, the prevailing party in the Board decision is the respondent. Other parties from the Board case can become respondents by filing a notice of election within 30 days after the petition is served, and any participant who wasn’t named can intervene. The court uses the rules in chapter 158 of title 28 with a few changes: service goes to the General Counsel instead of the Attorney General, some AG-authority rules don’t apply, the petition for review must be filed within 90 days after the Board’s final decision, and the Office counts as an “agency.” The court decides legal questions and will set aside a Board decision if it is arbitrary or unlawful, did not follow required procedures, or lacks substantial evidence. The court reviews the whole record or the parts cited and considers whether any error was harmful.