16
Ginsburg, J., concurring in judgment
reversed"); id., at 312-315; Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 16 and Comment c (1982) (nullification of an earlier judgment on which a subsequent judgment relied "may be made the ground for appropriate proceedings for relief from the later judgment with any suitable provision for restitution of benefits that may have been obtained under that judgment"); id., § 84 (generally, "a valid and final award by arbitration has the same effects under the rules of res judicata, subject to the same exceptions and qualifications, as a judgment of a court").2
Gregory did not bring to the Board's attention her successful grievance of the Postal Service's first disciplinary action, i. e., a letter of warning dated May 13, 1997, based on the April 7, 1997, incident, see ante, at 4; App. 43, 47-48. Under the MSPB's regulations, she may even now ask the Board to reopen based on the expungement of that action, or the Board may reopen "on its own motion." 5 CFR § 1201.118 (2001); see Tr. of Oral Arg. 26 (counsel for the Postal Service acknowledged that successful grievance of first disciplinary action "could have been brought to the attention of the [B]oard and still could be today"). Gregory may also bring to the Board's attention any revision resulting from success-2 Justice Thomas suggests, ante, at 12-13 (concurring opinion), that Gregory's argument would logically require the Board to review de novo any prior disciplinary action upon which the employer relied in removing an employee, "whether or not the prior actions were ever grieved." Failure to pursue an available grievance procedure or other avenue of appeal, however, would end the matter. It is well settled that one who fails timely to appeal an adverse decision is bound by that decision in later proceedings. See, e. g., New Haven Inclusion Cases, 399 U. S. 392, 481 (1970) (holding that a party who "took no appeal" from an adverse order is "foreclosed by res judicata" from later seeking relief inconsistent with that order); see also 18 Wright, Miller, & Cooper, § 4433, at 305 ("preclusion cannot be defeated by electing to fo[r]go an available opportunity to appeal"); id., at 305-308; Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 83 and Comment a, § 84 and Comment e (in general, administrative adjudications and arbitration awards have the same preclusive effects as court judgments).
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