Supreme Court Sides 9–0 With Furloughed Pentagon Employee

The government had argued that a missed deadline was fatal to the employee’s appeal.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan stands during a group photograph of the justices at the Supreme Court in Washington on April 23, 2021. Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on May 16 that a furloughed Department of Defense (DOD) employee who was forced to wait five years for an understaffed government board to decide on his compensation claim is entitled to move forward with an appeal of the decision denying him benefits.

The legal issue in the case was whether a filing deadline was “jurisdictional,” in legal parlance. When a legal rule is deemed jurisdictional, that status can significantly limit litigants’ options in a case.