Case: 24-2029 Document: 10 Page: 1 Filed: 11/18/2024

NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________ ARTURO S. LOPEZ, Petitioner v. DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE, Respondent ______________________ 2024-2029 ______________________ Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board in No. DA-0752-18-0107-I-1. ______________________ ON MOTION ______________________ Before REYNA, LINN, and STOLL, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

ORDER Arturo S. Lopez petitions this court to review the final decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board affirming his removal and rejecting his affirmative defense of retali- ation for prior equal employment opportunity activity al- leging discrimination based on national origin.

Responding to this court’s show cause order, Mr. Lopez Case: 24-2029 Document: 10 Page: 2 Filed: 11/18/2024

2 LOPEZ v. AIR FORCE

moves unopposed to transfer to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, ECF No. 8.

Because the district court is the appropriate forum for judicial review of Board decisions involving agency actions appealable to the Board and alleged to be based on certain types of discrimination as well as retaliation, 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(2); Perry v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 582 U.S. 420 (2017); Diggs v. Dep’t of Hous. & Urb. Dev., 670 F.3d 1353, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (holding that the affirmative defense of retaliation for prior EEO activity “falls outside [of the court’s] jurisdictional reach”), we transfer to the Western District of Texas. See 28 U.S.C. § 1631.

Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED THAT: The motion is granted. The matter and all case filings are transferred to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631.

FOR THE COURT

November 18, 2024 Date