Stone v. INS, 514 U.S. 386, 8 (1995)

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Cite as: 514 U. S. 386 (1995)

Opinion of the Court

The INS, however, proffers a different reading of Locomotive Engineers. Relying on our statement that the provision of the APA, 5 U. S. C. § 704, 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. § 1105a(a)(1) (1988 ed., Supp. V). The second and decisive exception is contained in § 106(a)(6), a provision added when Congress 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

393

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