Cite as: 513 U. S. 88 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
848-849 (1977) (refusing to uphold town board's ratification of private attorney's unauthorized commencement of lawsuit where ratification came after the statute of limitations had run); Wagner v. Globe, 150 Ariz. 82, 87, 722 P. 2d 250, 255 (1986) (holding invalid city council's attempt to ratify police chief's dismissal of police officer after police officer commenced a wrongful discharge action). But see Trenton v. Fowler-Thorne Co., 57 N. J. Super. 196, 154 A. 2d 369 (1959) (upholding city's ratification of unauthorized lawsuit filed on its behalf even though ratification occurred after limitations period had expired).
The application of these principles of agency law here produces a result entirely consistent with, and perhaps required by, 28 U. S. C. § 2101(c), the statute governing the time for filing petitions for certiorari. "We have no authority to extend the period for filing except as Congress permits." Jenkins, 495 U. S., at 45. If the Solicitor General were allowed to retroactively authorize otherwise unauthorized agency petitions after the deadline had expired, he would have the unilateral power to extend the 90-day statutory period for filing certiorari petitions by days, weeks, or, as in this case, even months. Such a practice would result in the blurring of the jurisdictional deadline. But "[t]he time of appealability, having jurisdictional consequences, should above all be clear." Budinich v. Becton Dickinson & Co., 486 U. S. 196, 202 (1988).
We hold that the FEC may not independently file a petition for certiorari in this Court under 2 U. S. C. § 437d(a)(6), and that the Solicitor General's "after-the-fact" authorization does not relate back to the date of the FEC's unauthorized filing so as to make it timely. We therefore dismiss the petition for certiorari for want of jurisdiction.
It is so ordered.
Justice Ginsburg took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
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