Cite as: 522 U. S. 359 (1998)
Opinion of Breyer, J.
that the Court's precedents mandate. See, e. g., Beth Israel Hospital v. NLRB, 437 U. S. 483, 504 (1978).
To decide whether an agency's conclusion is supported by substantial evidence, a reviewing court must identify the conclusion and then examine and weigh the evidence. As this Court said in 1951, "[w]hether on the record as a whole there is substantial evidence to support agency findings is a question which Congress has placed in the keeping of the Courts of Appeals." Universal Camera, 340 U. S., at 491. The Court held that it would "intervene only in what ought to be the rare instance when the standard appears to have been misapprehended or grossly misapplied." Ibid. (emphasis added); see Beth Israel Hospital, supra, at 507 (" 'misapprehended or grossly misapplied' "); Golden State Bottling Co. v. NLRB, 414 U. S. 168, 173 (1973) (" 'misapprehended or grossly misapplied' "). Consequently, if the majority is to overturn a court of appeals' "substantial evidence" decision, it must identify the agency's conclusion, examine the evidence, and then determine whether the evidence is so obviously inadequate to support the conclusion that the reviewing court must have seriously misunderstood the nature of its legal duty.
The majority opinion begins by properly stating the Board's conclusion, namely, that the employer, Allentown Mack Sales & Service, Inc., did not demonstrate that it
"held a reasonable doubt, based on objective considerations, that the Union continued to enjoy the support of a majority of the bargaining unit employees." Ante, at 366 (emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted).
The opinion, however, then omits the words I have italicized and transforms this conclusion, rephrasing it as:
"Allentown lacked a genuine, reasonable uncertainty about whether Local 724 enjoyed the continuing support of a majority of unit employees." Ante, at 367.
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