270
Opinion of the Court
Finkelstein is not identical to the case before us. It involved an appeal by the Government; this case involves an appeal by a disability benefits claimant. Moreover, the need for immediate appeal in Finkelstein was arguably greater than that here. The District Court there had invalidated a set of Health and Human Services regulations, and the Government might have found it difficult to obtain appellate review of this matter of general importance. Further, the Court, in Finkelstein, said specifically that it would "express no opinion about appealability" where a party seeks to "ap-peal on the ground that" the district court should have granted broader relief. 496 U. S., at 623, n. 3.
Finkelstein's logic, however, makes these features of that case irrelevant here. Finkelstein focused upon a "class of orders" that Congress had made "appealable under § 1291." Id., at 628. It reasoned, primarily from the language of § 405(g), that a district court judgment remanding a Social Security disability benefit case fell within that class. Nothing in the language, either of the statute or the Court's opinion, suggests that such an order could be "final" for purposes of appeal only when the Government seeks to appeal but not when the claimant seeks to do so. Nor does the opinion's reasoning permit an inference that "finality" turns on the order's importance or the availability (or lack of availability) of an avenue for appeal from the different, later, agency determination that might emerge after remand.
The Ninth Circuit itself recognized that the District Court's judgment was "final" for purposes of appeal, for it said that any effort "to conclude" that a judgment remanding the case is "not final for the claimant" was "inconsistent" with Finkelstein. 108 F. 3d, at 232. The court added that it would be "error for the district court to attempt to retain jurisdiction" after remanding the case; and it wrote that the remand judgment, which ended the "civil action," must be " 'final' in a formalistic sense . . . for all parties to it." Ibid.
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007