Cite as: 514 U. S. 386 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
petition for judicial review and then seek agency reconsideration. And, more important, its construction cannot account for Congress' decision to amend the Act in 1990 to provide that the Hobbs Act procedures, which in the normal course include the tolling rule, shall apply "except" for the consolidation provision.
F
Whatever assessment Congress might have made in enacting the judicial review provisions of the INA in the first instance, we conclude from the consolidation provision added in 1990 that it envisioned two separate petitions filed to review two separate final orders. To be sure, it would have been preferable for Congress to have spoken with greater clarity. Judicial review provisions, however, are jurisdictional in nature and must be construed with strict fidelity to their terms. As we have explained:
"Section 106(a) is intended exclusively to prescribe and regulate a portion of the jurisdiction of the federal courts. As a jurisdictional statute, it must be construed both with precision and with fidelity to the terms by which Congress has expressed its wishes." Cheng Fan Kwok v. INS, 392 U. S. 206, 212 (1968).
This is all the more true of statutory provisions specifying the timing of review, for those time limits are, as we have often stated, "mandatory and jurisdictional," Missouri v. Jenkins, 495 U. S. 33, 45 (1990), and are not subject to equitable tolling. See Fed. Rule App. Proc. 26(b).
* * *
The consolidation provision in § 106(a)(6) reflects Congress' understanding that a deportation order is final, and reviewable, when issued. Its finality is not affected by the subsequent filing of a motion to reconsider. The order being final when issued, an alien has 90 days from that date to seek review. The alien, if he chooses, may also seek agency re-
405
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