Cite as: 512 U. S. 267 (1994)
Souter, J., dissenting
rule once both parties' evidence had been introduced and (as here) the presumption had dropped out of the case. See id., at 144, n. 12 (true doubt rule "ensures that the employer will win, on invocation or rebuttal, only when its evidence is stronger than the claimant's"). We acknowledged the Secretary's position that the BLBA " 'embodies the principle that doubt is to be resolved in favor of the claimant, [which] plays an important role in claims determinations . . . [,]' " id., at 156, n. 29 (quoting 43 Fed. Reg. 36826 (1978)), and that the Benefits Review Board "has consistently upheld the principle that, where true doubt exists, that doubt shall be resolved in favor of the claimant," 484 U. S., at 144, n. 12 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
Had we, indeed, suggested otherwise, we would have been bucking the strong tide that the Court turns back today, for the other federal courts have been applying some form of the true doubt rule, either as judicial statutory interpretation or as the agency's rule, in adjudicating claims after enactment of the APA, as well as before it, for a good 50 years. See, e. g., Friend v. Britton, 220 F. 2d 820, 821 (CADC 1955) ("Doubts, including the factual, are to be resolved in favor of the employee or his dependent family"); Bath Iron Works Corp. v. White, 584 F. 2d 569, 574 (CA1 1978) ("[T]he judicial policy [is] that 'all doubtful questions are to be resolved in favor of the injured employee' . . . in order to place the burden of possible error on the employer who is better able to bear it"); Volpe v. Northeast Marine Terminals, 671 F. 2d 697, 701 (CA2 1982) ("[A]ll doubtful questions of fact [are to] be resolved in favor of the injured employee") (internal quotation marks omitted); 5 Adkins v. Director, Office of
5 Until the decision below, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit itself applied the true doubt rule. See, e. g., Bonessa v. United States Steel Corp., 884 F. 2d 726, 730 (1989) ("The [Administrative Law Judge] noted that the contradictory nature of the x-ray evidence established 'true doubt' as to the existence of pneumoconiosis and resolved that doubt, as is proper, in favor of [claimant]").
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