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Opinion of Scalia, J.
agreement with the Board's decision.* It would be an odd and novel result if the Director, in cases of this nature, could be named as a respondent if he was on the prevailing side below, but could not initiate an appeal if he was on the losing side. I would not reach such a result unless the statute left no choice, which is not the case here.
Finally, I may observe that today's game has really not been worth the candle. The strange and countertextual arrangement that the Court has constructed might perhaps be excused if excluding the Director from party status would do some substantial harm to the scheme of the LHWCA. But it does not. His "significant role" in administering the Act, ante, at 262, does not mean that his participation in proceedings before the courts of appeals is essential. As we emphasized in Newport News, limits on the Director's ability to participate in the judicial-review process are of relatively minor consequence because his "power to resolve legal ambiguities in the statute" may always be exercised through his rulemaking authority. 514 U. S., at 134. In addition, the Director is guaranteed the right to file an amicus brief in the court of appeals, with or without the consent of the parties. Fed. Rule App. Proc. 29.
* * *
I think it plain that the intent of Rule 15(a) is not to restructure the Executive Branch, or to convert Article I courts (or their parent agencies) into litigating arms, but rather simply to require that those agencies entitled to party status—i. e., those that would be entitled to intervene in the appeal under the criteria set forth in Rule 15(d)—must be
*In my view the Director is akin to an ordinary respondent or appellee when he prevails before the Board in his capacity as administrator of the LHWCA special fund established by 33 U. S. C. § 944. In Newport News, we left open the question whether the Director has standing to appeal an adverse ruling of the Board when he participates in that capacity. 514 U. S., at 125, n. 1.
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