Cite as: 519 U. S. 248 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
ministration, § 701.202 (transferring to the Director "all functions of the Department of Labor with respect to the administration of benefits programs under the [LHWCA]"), and enforcement, § 802.410(b) (noting that Director is "responsible for the administration and enforcement of the [LHWCA]"); see also Newport News, 514 U. S., at 134 (noting Director's "duty of uniform administration and enforcement"), the Director has also been authorized by the Secretary of Labor to appear as a litigant before the relevant adjudicative branches of the Department of Labor, the ALJ, and the Benefits Review Board. 20 CFR § 702.333(b) (1996) ("The Solicitor of Labor or his designee may appear and participate in any formal hearing [before an ALJ] held pursuant to these regulations on behalf of the Director as an interested party"); § 802.202(a) ("Any party . . . may appear before and/or submit written argument to the [Benefits Review] Board"); § 801.2(a)(10) (defining "party" to include "the Secretary or his designee"); § 802.201(a) ("The Director, OWCP, . . . shall [under certain circumstances] be considered a party adversely affected" for purposes of initiating appeal to Board).
The Director may also appear before the courts of appeals, although the limits of the Director's authority to do so are less clear. Section 21(c) of the Act, 33 U. S. C. § 921(c), provides in relevant part that
"[a]ny person adversely affected or aggrieved by a final order of the Board may obtain a review of that order in the United States court of appeals for the circuit in which the injury occurred . . . ."
In Newport News, we held that "the phrase 'person adversely affected or aggrieved' does not refer to an agency acting in its governmental capacity," 514 U. S., at 130, so that the Director was therefore not permitted to appeal from a decision of the Benefits Review Board when the Board's decision did no more than "impai[r] [the Director's] ability to
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