Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/307

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

149

Blackmun, J., dissenting

of 1952, which provides that a person involved in a deportation proceeding “shall have the privilege of being represented (at no expense to the Government) by such counsel . . . as he shall choose.” 66 Stat. 235, 8 U. S. C. § 1362. The INS argues that this provision is a specific bar on fee shifting in deportation proceedings that necessarily overrides the EAJA’s general fee-shifting policy. The legislative history of the EAJA clearly states, however, that the statute “applies to all civil actions except. . . those already covered by existing fee-shifting statutes.” House Report, at 18. There is no reason to think that Congress would have held a different view regarding the EAJA’s administrative provisions. Because the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 contains no fee-shifting provisions, it cannot bar the EAJA’s application. Nor is the Government correct that this interpretation would effectively repeal § 292. The purpose of § 292 is to relieve the Government of any general obligation to appoint and pay counsel for indigent aliens. See Escobar Ruiz v. INS, 838 F. 2d, at 1028. The purpose of the EAJA, on the other hand, is to reimburse persons who prevail in those cases where the Government’s action was not substantially justified. By virtue of their different purposes, the two statutes may coexist. No alien has an automatic right to Government-appointed and Government-paid counsel. And in all cases where the Government’s action is substantially justified—the vast majority of cases, one would hope—the alien has no claim against the Government for attorney’s fees. V In sum, EAJA’s ambiguous definition of the term “adversary adjudication” can be read to support Ardestani’s position; the legislative history confirms her interpretation; and the purposes of the EAJA, in whose light the Court heretofore has interpreted the statute, strongly favor the availability of attorney’s fees in deportation proceedings. I can only