Jacobs v. MSPB
Jacobs v. MSPB
Opinion
Case: 24-1738 Document: 16 Page: 1 Filed: 07/23/2024
NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________
GAIL TURNER JACOBS, Petitioner
v.
MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD, Respondent ______________________
2024-1738 ______________________
Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board in No. DC-0841-24-0216-I-1. ______________________
ON MOTION ______________________
Before PROST, TARANTO, and HUGHES, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM. ORDER The Merit Systems Protection Board moves to dismiss this petition for lack of jurisdiction. Gail Turner Jacobs opposes the motion. On March 18, 2024, Ms. Jacobs filed a timely petition with the Board seeking review of an administrative judge’s Case: 24-1738 Document: 16 Page: 2 Filed: 07/23/2024
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initial decision. The next month, this court received her petition to review the same initial decision. This court does not yet have authority to decide this case. Although this court has jurisdiction to review final orders or final decisions of the Board, see 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(9); see also Weed v. Soc. Sec. Admin., 571 F.3d 1359, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2009), Ms. Jacobs’s pending timely petition at the Board renders the initial decision non-final for purposes of our jurisdiction. See 5 U.S.C. § 7701(e)(1)(A) (providing that the initial decision does not become final if a party timely petitions the Board for re- view); 5 C.F.R. § 1201.113(a) (“The initial decision will not become the Board’s final decision if within the time limit for filing . . . any party files a petition for review . . . .”). Two potential paths to this court’s review are available. First, Ms. Jacobs may wait to receive a final decision from the Board on her petition, at which point she may seek this court’s review by filing a petition here if necessary. Alter- natively, Ms. Jacobs may file a motion at the Board to with- draw her petition pursuant to the June 2022 policy specified on the Board’s website. 1 Under that policy, the Clerk of the Board may grant requests to withdraw a peti- tion for review when there is no apparent issue of untime- liness with the petition and no other party objects to the withdrawal. When the Clerk grants a request to withdraw, the order granting the request will be the final order of the Board for purposes of obtaining judicial review. Accordingly,
1 Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., Policy Regarding Clerk’s Au- thority to Grant Requests to Withdraw Petitions for Re- view (2022), https://www.mspb.gov/appeals/files/Policy_Regard- ing_Withdrawal_of_a_Petition_for_Review_1515773.pdf (last visited June 17, 2024). Case: 24-1738 Document: 16 Page: 3 Filed: 07/23/2024
JACOBS v. MSPB 3
IT IS ORDERED THAT: (1) The motion to dismiss is granted. The petition for review is dismissed. (2) Each side shall bear its own costs. FOR THE COURT
July 23, 2024 Date
ISSUED AS A MANDATE: July 23, 2024
Reference
- Status
- Unpublished