Cite as: 519 U. S. 248 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
the court's statutory authority to hear the case. While this transgression of statutory authority is not a question we decide today, it nevertheless raises a concern relevant to our interpretation of Rule 15(a). We do not find this concern controlling, however, when, as in this case, the Director is not in fact the sole respondent.
Having concluded that Rule 15(a) applies, the question becomes which "agency" must be named as a respondent. When an agency has a unitary structure—i. e., where a single entity wears the hats of adjudicator and litigator/ enforcer—the application of Rule 15(a) is straightforward. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for instance, has adjudicative duties, 47 U. S. C. §§ 154( j), 155(c), as well as enforcement duties that require it to appear as a litigant, § 402. It is therefore proper to name the FCC as the respondent "agency" in proceedings before the courts of appeals under Rule 15(a). Indeed, it is necessary to do so, since the FCC is the only "agency" that could be named. See also 29 U. S. C. § 160(f) (National Labor Relations Board adjudicates unfair labor practice claims and litigates before the courts of appeals); 16 U. S. C. §§ 825f, 825g (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission investigates, enforces, and adjudicates violations of the Federal Power Act).
But not all agencies share this unitary structure. Some have a split-function regime in which Congress places adjudicatory authority outside the agency charged with administering and enforcing the statute. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, for example, gives general enforcement authority to the Department of Labor, but vests adjudicatory authority in an independent body, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. See 29 U. S. C. §§ 651(b)(3), 661; Martin v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Comm'n, 499 U. S. 144, 147 (1991). See also 30 U. S. C. §§ 811, 823 (authorizing Secretary of Labor to promulgate health and safety standards under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, but establishing independent
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