Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/297

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Cite as: 502 U. S. 129 (1991)

139

Blackmun, J., dissenting

III We hold that administrative deportation proceedings are not adversary adjudications “under section 554” and thus do not fall within the category of proceedings for which the EAJA has waived sovereign immunity and authorized the award of attorney’s fees and costs. We thus need not reach the Court of Appeals’ alternative holding that the EAJA’s fee-shifting provisions are precluded by § 292 of the INA, 8 U. S. C. § 1362, which provides that an individual in an administrative deportation proceeding may be represented by counsel “at no expense to the Government.” The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed. It is so ordered. Justice Thomas took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. Justice Blackmun, with whom Justice Stevens joins, dissenting. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS or Service) put petitioner Ardestani through the ordeal of a deportation proceeding and attempted to return her to a land in which, the State Department had already determined, she had a well-founded fear of persecution for her religious convictions. The Service has since abandoned its argument that its position in this matter was “substantially justified.” Instead, it now argues only that deportation proceedings are not among the class of proceedings for which the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 5 U. S. C. § 504 and 28 U. S. C. § 2412, authorizes awards of attorney’s fees. The Court today accepts this contention, relying on the purportedly “plain” meaning of the statute and the canon that waivers of sovereign immunity are to be construed strictly. I do not find the meaning of the relevant EAJA provisions “plain,” nor do I agree that the Court’s canon is applicable