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4 “court’s adjudicatory authority.” Kontrick v. Ryan, 540 U. S. 443, 455 (2004). By contrast, nonjurisdictional rules govern how courts and litigants operate within those bounds. Claim-processing rules, for example, “seek to promote the orderly progress of litigation by requiring that the parties take certain procedural steps at certain specified times.” Henderson v. Shinseki, 562 U. S. 428, 435 (2011).

“Harsh consequences attend the jurisdictional brand.” Fort Bend County v. Davis, 587 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 7) (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted). For example, because courts are not able to exceed limits on their adjudicative authority, they cannot grant equitable exceptions to jurisdictional rules. See Boechler v. Commissioner, 596 U. S. ___, ___ (2022) (slip op., at 3). Jurisdictional objections also can be raised at any time in the litigation. Hamer v. ''Neighborhood Housing Servs. of Chicago'', 583 U. S. 17, ___–___ (2017) (slip op., at 2–3). Moreover, and most relevant here, courts must enforce jurisdictional rules sua sponte, even in the face of a litigant’s forfeiture or waiver. Ibid.

We treat a rule as jurisdictional “only if Congress ‘clearly states’ that it is.” Boechler, 596 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 3) (quoting Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U. S. 500, 515 (2006)). And “[w]here multiple plausible interpretations exist—only one of which is jurisdictional—it is difficult to make the case that the jurisdictional reading is clear.” 596 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 5). We adopted this clear-statement principle in Arbaugh “to leave the ball in Congress’ court,” ensuring that courts impose harsh jurisdictional consequences only when Congress unmistakably has so instructed. 546 U. S., at 515–516; see Wilkins v. United States, 598 U. S. 152, 157–158 (2023).

Two aspects of §1252(d)(1), taken together, persuade us