Cite as: 514 U. S. 386 (1995)
Breyer, J., dissenting
related circumstances, such as the fact that the filing of a petition for review from a "final" deportation order automatically stays deportation, INA § 106(a)(3), 8 U. S. C. § 1105a(a)(3) (1988 ed., Supp. V). The second possibility (that adopted by the majority) creates a serious risk of unfair loss of a right to appeal, because it is inconsistent with Locomotive Engineers (thereby multiplying complexity). And, it has no basis in the INA, which generally incorporates the procedures of the Hobbs Act and the text and history of which simply do not purport to make an exception denying tolling. The third possibility, in my view, is the best of the three, for it promotes uniformity in practice among the agencies; it is consistent with the Hobbs Act, whose procedures the INA generally adopts; and it thereby helps to avoid inadvertent or unfair loss of the right to appeal.
The upshot is that Locomotive Engineers, Griggs, the language of the immigration statute before us, the language of the Federal Rules, and various practical considerations together argue for an interpretation of INA § 106(a) that both (1) permits the filing of a motion for reconsideration to toll the time for petitioning for judicial review (when no petition for review has yet been filed), and (2) permits court review that has already "vested" in the court of appeals to continue there (when the petition for review was filed prior to the filing of the motion for reconsideration). This interpretation simply requires us to read the language of the INA as this Court read the Hobbs Act in Locomotive Engineers. It would avoid creating any "Hobson's choice" for the alien, cf. ante, at 398-399, for an alien could both appeal (thereby obtaining an automatic stay of deportation, INA § 106(a)(3), 8 U. S. C. § 1105a(a)(3)), and then also petition for reconsideration. And, it would avoid entrapping the unwary lawyer who did not immediately file a petition for court review, thinking that a reconsideration petition would toll the appeal time limit as it does in other agency/court contexts.
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