United States v. Kwai Fun Wong

UNITED STATES v. KWAI FUN WONG

certiorari to the united states court of appeals for

the ninth circuit No. 13–1074. Argued December 10, 2014—Decided April 22, 2015* The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) provides that a tort claim against the United States “shall be forever barred” unless the claimant meets two deadlines. First, a claim must be presented to the appropriate federal agency for administrative review “within two years after [the] claim accrues.” 28 U. S. C. § 2401(b). Second, if the agency denies the claim, the claimant may file suit in federal court “within six months” of the agency's denial. Ibid. Kwai Fun Wong and Marlene June, respondents in Nos. 13–1074 and 13–1075, respectively, each missed one of those deadlines. Wong flailed to file her FTCA claim in federal court within six months, but argued that that was only because the District Court had not permitted her to file that claim until after the period expired. June flailed to present her FTCA claim to a federal agency within two years, but argued that her untimely filing should be excused because the Government had, in her view, concealed facts vital to her claim. In each case, the District Court dismissed the FTCA claim for failure to satisfy § 2401(b)'s time bars, holding that, despite any justification for delay, those time bars are jurisdictional and not subject to equitable tolling. The Ninth Circuit reversed in both cases, concluding that § 2401(b)'s time bars may be equitably tolled. Held: Section 2401(b)'s time limits are subject to equitable tolling. Pp. 407–421. (a) Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 498 U. S. 89, provides the framework for deciding the applicability of equitable tolling to statutes of limitations on suits against the Government. There, the Court adopted a “rebuttable presumption” that such time bars may be equitably tolled. Id., at 95. Irwin's presumption may, of course, be rebutted. One way to do so—pursued by the Government here—is to demonstrate that the statute of limitations at issue is jurisdictional; if so, the statute cannot be equitably tolled. But this Court will not conclude that a time bar is jurisdictional unless Congress provides a “clear statement” to that effect. Sebelius v. Auburn Regional Medical Center , 568 U. S.

145, 153. And in applying that clear statement rule, this Court has said that most time bars, even if mandatory and emphatic, are nonjurisdic-tional. See ibid. Congress thus must do something special to tag a statute of limitations as jurisdictional and so prohibit a court from tolling it. Pp. 407–410.

(b) Congress did no such thing in enacting § 2401(b). The text of that provision speaks only to a claim's timeliness; it does not refer to the jurisdiction of the district courts or address those courts' authority to hear untimely suits. See Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U. S. 500, 515. Instead, it “reads like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill statute of limitations.” Holland v. Florida, 560 U. S. 631, 647. Statutory context confirms that reading. Congress's separation of a filing deadline from a jurisdictional grant often indicates that the deadline is not jurisdictional, and here the FTCA's jurisdictional grant appears not in § 2401(b) but in another section of Title 28, § 1346(b)(1). That jurisdictional grant is not expressly conditioned on compliance with § 2401(b)'s limitations periods. Finally, assuming it could provide the clear statement that this Court's cases require, § 2401(b)'s legislative history does not clearly demonstrate that Congress intended the provision to impose a jurisdictional bar. Pp. 410–412. (c) The Government's two principal arguments for treating § 2401(b) as jurisdictional are unpersuasive and foreclosed by this Court's precedents. Pp. 412–420.

(1) The Government first points out that § 2401(b) includes the same “shall be forever barred” language as the statute of limitations governing Tucker Act claims, which this Court has held to be jurisdictional. See, e. g., Kendall v. United States, 107 U. S. 123, 125–126. But that phrase was a commonplace in statutes of limitations enacted around the time of the FTCA, and it does not carry talismanic jurisdictional significance. Indeed, this Court has construed the same language to be subject to tolling in the Clayton Act's statute of limitations. See American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 U. S. 538, 559. And in two decisions addressing the Tucker Act's statute of limitations, the Court has dismissed the idea that that language is jurisdictionally signif-cant. See Irwin, 498 U. S., at 95; John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States, 552 U. S. 130, 137, 139. The “shall be forever barred” phrase is thus nothing more than an ordinary way to set a statutory deadline. Pp. 412–417. (2) The Government next argues that § 2401(b) is jurisdictional because it is a condition on the FTCA's waiver of sovereign immunity. But that argument is foreclosed by Irwin, which considered an identical objection but concluded that even time limits that condition a waiver of immunity may be equitably tolled. See 498 U. S., at 95–96. The

Government's invocation of sovereign immunity principles is also peculiarly inapt here. Unlike other waivers of sovereign immunity, the FTCA treats the Government much like a private party, and the Court has accordingly declined to construe the Act narrowly merely because it waives the Government's immunity from suit. There is no reason to do differently here. Pp. 417–420. No. 13–1074, 732 F. 3d 1030, and No. 13–1075, 550 Fed. Appx. 505, affirmed and remanded. Kagan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Kennedy , Gins-burg , Breyer , and Sotomayor , JJ., joined. Alito , J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Roberts, C. J., and Scalia and Thomas, JJ., joined, post, p. 421.

Roman Martinez argued the cause for the United States in No. 13–1074. With him on the briefs were Solicitor General Verrilli, Assistant Attorney General Delery , Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler , Mark B. Stern, and Anne Murphy. Elizabeth Prelogar argued the cause for the United States in No. 13–1075. With her on the briefs were Solicitor General Verrilli, Assistant Attorney General Delery , Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler , Mr. Martinez, Mr. Stern, and Ms. Murphy .

Eric Schanpper argued the cause for respondent in No. 13–1074. With him on the brief was Tom Steenson. E. Joshua Rosenkranz argued the cause for respondent in No. 13–1075. With him on the brief were Robert M. Loeb , Brian D. Ginsberg , John P . Leader , and Stanley

The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA or Act) provides that a tort claim against the United States “shall be forever barred” unless it is presented to the “appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues” and then brought to federal court “within six months” after the agency acts on the claim. 28 U. S. C. § 2401(b). In each of the two cases we resolve here, the claimant missed one of those deadlines, but requested equitable tolling on the ground that she had a good reason for filing late. The Government responded that § 2401(b)'s time limits are not subject to tolling because they are jurisdictional restrictions. Today, we reject the Government's argument and conclude that courts may toll both of the FTCA's limitations periods.

I

n the first case, respondent Kwai Fun Wong asserts that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) falsely imprisoned her for five days in 1999. As the FTCA requires, Wong first presented that claim to the INS within two years of the alleged unlawful action. See § 2401(b); § 2675(a). The INS denied the administrative complaint on December 3, 2001. Under the Act, that gave Wong six months, until June 3, 2002, to bring her tort claim in federal court. See § 2401(b).

Several months prior to the INS's decision, Wong had filed suit in Federal District Court asserting various non-FTCA claims against the Government arising out of the same alleged misconduct. Anticipating the INS's ruling, Wong moved in mid-November 2001 to amend the complaint in that suit by adding her tort claim. On April 5, 2002, a Magistrate Judge recommended granting Wong leave to amend.

et al. by Edward P . Krugman and Susan Buckley; and for the Southeastern Legal Foundation by Shannon Lee Goessling , Steffen N. Johnson, and Linda T. Coberly.

The Government moved to dismiss the tort claim on the ground that it was filed late. The District Court at first rejected the motion. It recognized that Wong had managed to add her FTCA claim only after § 2401(b)'s 6-month time period had expired. But the court equitably tolled that period for all the time between the Magistrate Judge's recommendation and its own order allowing amendment, thus bringing Wong's FTCA claim within the statutory deadline. Several years later, the Government moved for reconsideration of that ruling based on an intervening Ninth Circuit decision. This time, the District Court dismissed Wong's claim, reasoning that § 2401(b)'s 6-month time bar was jurisdictional and therefore not subject to equitable tolling. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit agreed to hear the case en banc to address an intra-circuit conflict on the issue. The en banc court held that the 6-month limit is not jurisdictional and that equitable tolling is available. Kwai Fun Wong v. Beebe, 732 F. 3d 1030 (2013). It then confirmed the District Court's prior ruling that the circumstances here justify tolling because Wong “exercis[ed] due diligence” in attempting to amend her complaint before the statutory deadline. Id., at 1052.

The second case before us arises from a deadly highway accident. Andrew Booth was killed in 2005 when a car in which he was riding crossed through a cable median barrier and crashed into oncoming traffic. The following year, respondent Marlene June, acting on behalf of Booth's young son, filed a wrongful death action alleging that the State of Arizona and its contractor had negligently constructed and maintained the median barrier. Years into that state-court litigation, June contends, she discovered that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) had approved installation of the barrier knowing it had not been properly crash tested.

We granted certiorari in both cases, 573 U. S. 945 (2014), to resolve a circuit split about whether courts may equitably toll § 2401(b)'s two time limits. Compare, e. g., In re FEMA Trailer Formaldehyde Prods. Liability Litigation, 646 F. 3d 185, 190–191 (CA5 2011) (per curiam ) (tolling not available), with Arteaga v. United States, 711 F. 3d 828, 832–833 (CA7 2013) (tolling allowed). 1 We now affirm the Court of Appeals' rulings.

rwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 498 U. S. 89, 95 (1990), sets out the framework for deciding “the applicability of equitable tolling in suits against the Government.” In Irwin, we recognized that time bars in suits between private parties are presumptively subject to equitable tolling. See id., at 95–96. That means a court usually may pause the

A rebuttable presumption, of course, may be rebutted, so Irwin does not end the matter. When enacting a time bar for a suit against the Government (as for one against a private party), Congress may reverse the usual rule if it chooses. See id., at 96. The Government may therefore attempt to establish, through evidence relating to a particular statute of limitations, that Congress opted to forbid equitable tolling.

One way to meet that burden—and the way the Government pursues here—is to show that Congress made the time bar at issue jurisdictional. 2 When that is so, a litigant's fail-

Given those harsh consequences, the Government must clear a high bar to establish that a statute of limitations is jurisdictional. In recent years, we have repeatedly held that procedural rules, including time bars, cabin a court's power only if Congress has “clearly state[d]” as much. Se-belius v. Auburn Regional Medical Center , 568 U. S. 145, 153 (2013) (quoting Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U. S. 500, 515 (2006)); see Gonzalez, 565 U. S., at 141–142. “[A]bsent such a clear statement, . . . `courts should treat the restriction as nonjurisdictional.' ” Auburn Regional, 568 U. S., at 153 (quoting Arbaugh, 546 U. S., at 516). That does not mean “Congress must incant magic words.” Auburn Regional,

show that § 2401(b)'s time limits are jurisdictional. See infra, at 412–413, 417. In addressing the Government's predominant, jurisdictional claim, we therefore also deal with its subsidiary one. 3 The dissent takes issue with the sequence in which we decide the jurisdictional question, contending that we must do so prior to mentioning Irwin's presumption. See post, at 430–432 (opinion of Alito , J.). We do not understand the point—or more precisely, why the dissent thinks the ordering matters. When Congress makes a time bar in a suit against the Government jurisdictional, one could say (as the dissent does) that Irwin does not apply, or one could say (as we do) that Irwin's presumption is conclusively rebutted. The bottom line is the same: Tolling is not available. We frame the inquiry as we do in part because that is how the Government presented the issue. See Brief for United States in Wong 19 (“One way to show that [Irwin's presumption is rebutted] is to establish that the statutory time limit is a `jurisdictional' restriction”). And we think that choice makes especially good sense in these cases because various aspects of Irwin's reasoning are central to considering the parties' positions on whether § 2401(b) is jurisdictional. See infra, at 415–420.

And in applying that clear statement rule, we have made plain that most time bars are nonjurisdictional. See, e. g., id., at 154–155 (noting the rarity of jurisdictional time limits). Time and again, we have described fling deadlines as “quintessential claim-processing rules,” which “seek to promote the orderly progress of litigation,” but do not deprive a court of authority to hear a case. Henderson v. Shinseki, 562 U. S. 428, 435 (2011); see Auburn Regional, 568 U. S., at 154; Scar-borough v. Principi, 541 U. S. 401, 413 (2004). That is so, contrary to the dissent's suggestion, see post, at 423, 430, even when the time limit is important (most are) and even when it is framed in mandatory terms (again, most are); indeed, that is so “however emphatic[ally]” expressed those terms may be, Henderson, 562 U. S., at 439 (quoting Union Pacific R. Co. v. Locomotive Engineers, 558 U. S. 67, 81 (2009)). Congress must do something special, beyond setting an exception-free deadline, to tag a statute of limitations as jurisdictional and so prohibit a court from tolling it.

In enacting the FTCA, Congress did nothing of that kind. It provided no clear statement indicating that § 2401(b) is the rare statute of limitations that can deprive a court of jurisdiction. Neither the text nor the context nor the legislative history indicates (much less does so plainly) that Congress meant to enact something other than a standard time bar.

Most important, § 2401(b)'s text speaks only to a claim's timeliness, not to a court's power. It states that “[a] tort claim against the United States shall be forever barred unless it is presented [to the agency] within two years . . . or unless action is begun within six months” of the agency's denial of the claim. That is mundane statute-of-limitations language, saying only what every time bar, by definition, must: that after a certain time a claim is barred. See infra,

Statutory context confirms that reading. This Court has often explained that Congress's separation of a filing deadline from a jurisdictional grant indicates that the time bar is not jurisdictional. See Henderson, 562 U. S., at 439–440; Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick, 559 U. S. 154, 164–165 (2010); Arbaugh, 546 U. S., at 515; Zipes, 455 U. S., at 393– 394. So too here. Whereas § 2401(b) houses the FTCA's

Finally, even assuming legislative history alone could provide a clear statement (which we doubt), none does so here. The report accompanying the FTCA did not discuss whether § 2401(b)'s time limits are jurisdictional. See S. Rep. No. 1400, 79th Cong., 2d Sess., 33 (1946). And in amending § 2401(b) four times after its enactment, Congress declined again (four times over) to say anything specific about whether the statute of limitations imposes a jurisdictional bar. Congress thus flailed to provide anything like the clear statement this Court has demanded before deeming a statute of limitations to curtail a court's power.

And so we wind up back where we started, with Irwin's “general rule” that equitable tolling is available in suits against the Government. 498 U. S., at 95. The justification the Government offers for departing from that principle flails: Section 2401(b) is not a jurisdictional requirement. The time limits in the FTCA are just time limits, nothing more. Even though they govern litigation against the Government, a court can toll them on equitable grounds.

The Government balks at that straightforward analysis, claiming that it overlooks two reasons for thinking § 2401(b) jurisdictional. But neither of those reasons is persuasive. Indeed, our precedents in this area foreclose them both.

A

The Government principally contends that § 2401(b) is jurisdictional because it includes the same language as the

But the Government takes too much from Congress's use in § 2401(b) of an utterly unremarkable phrase. The “shall be forever barred” formulation was a commonplace in federal limitations statutes for many decades surrounding Con-

Indeed, in two decisions directly addressing the Tucker Act's statute of limitations, this Court dismissed the idea that the language the Government relies on here has jurisdictional significance. Twice we described the words in that provision as not meaningfully different from those in a non-jurisdictional statute of limitations. And twice we made clear that the jurisdictional status of the Tucker Act's time bar has precious little to do with its phrasing.

We first did so in Irwin. Using our newly minted presumption, see supra, at 407–408, we decided there that the limitations period governing Title VII suits against the Government, 42 U. S. C. § 2000e–16(c) (1988 ed.), allowed equitable tolling. In reaching that conclusion, we compared § 2000e– 16(c)'s text (then stating that an employee “may file a civil action” within 30 days of an agency's denial of her claim) with the language of the Tucker Act's time bar. We noted that we had formerly held the Tucker Act's limitations statute to “jurisdictionally bar[ ]” late claims, and we acknowledged the possibility of justifying that different treatment by characterizing its “language [as] more stringent than” § 2000e–16(c)'s. Irwin, 498 U. S., at 94–95. But we rejected that reasoning, instead finding that the two formulations were materially alike. “[W]e are not persuaded,” we stated, “that the difference between them is enough to manifest a different congressional intent with respect to the availability of equitable tolling.” Id., at 95. Leaving for another day the question of what did account for the jurisdictional status

More recently, John R. Sand reaffirmed that conclusion, even as it refused to overturn our century-old view that the Tucker Act's time bar is jurisdictional. No less than three times, John R. Sand approvingly repeated Irwin's statement that the textual differences between the Tucker Act's time bar and § 2000e–16(c) were insignificant—i. e., that the language of the two provisions could not explain why the former was jurisdictional and the latter not. See 552 U. S., at 137, 139 (calling the provisions “linguistically similar,” “similar . . . in language,” and “similarly worded”). But if that were so, John R. Sand asked, why not hold that the Tucker Act's time limit, like § 2000e–16(c), is nonjurisdictional? The answer came down to two words: stare decisis. The Tucker Act's bar was different because it had been the subject of “a definitive earlier interpretation.” Id., at 138; see id., at 137; supra, at 413. And for that reason alone, John R. Sand left in place our prior construction of the Tucker Act's time limit. See 552 U. S., at 139 (observing, in Justice Brandeis's words, that “it is more important that” the rule “be settled than that it be settled right” (quoting Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co., 285 U. S. 393, 406 (1932) (dissenting opinion))). What is special about the Tucker Act's deadline, John R. Sand recognized, comes merely from this Court's prior rulings, not from Congress's choice of wording.

The Government thus cannot show that the phrase “shall be forever barred” in § 2401(b) plainly signifies a jurisdictional statute, as our decisions require. See supra, at 409– 410. Unlike in John R. Sand, here stare decisis plays no role: We have not previously considered whether § 2401(b) restricts a court's authority. What we have done is to say, again and

B

The Government next contends that at the time of the FTCA's enactment, Congress thought that every limitations statute applying to suits against the United States, however framed or worded, cut off a court's jurisdiction over untimely claims. On that view, the particular language of those statutes makes no difference. All that matters is that such time limits function as conditions on the Government's waiver of sovereign immunity. In that era—indeed, up until Irwin was decided—those conditions were generally supposed to be “strictly observed.” Soriano, 352 U. S., at 276. That meant, the Government urges, that all time limits on actions against the United States “carr[ied] jurisdictional consequences.” Brief for United States in Wong 34. Accordingly, the Government concludes, Congress “would have expected courts to apply [§ 2401(b)] as a jurisdictional requirement—just as conditions on waivers of sovereign immunity had always been applied.” Id., at 32.

In the years since, this Court has repeatedly followed Irwin's lead. We have applied Irwin to pre-Irwin statutes, just as we have to statutes that followed in that decision's wake. See Scarborough, 541 U. S., at 420–422; Franconia

And the Government's claim is peculiarly inapt as applied to § 2401(b) because all that is special about the FTCA cuts in favor of allowing equitable tolling. As compared to other waivers of immunity (prominently including the Tucker Act), the FTCA treats the United States more like a commoner than like the Crown. The FTCA's jurisdictional provision states that courts may hear suits “under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant.” 28 U. S. C. § 1346(b). And when defining substantive liability for torts, the Act reiterates that the United States is accountable “in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual.” § 2674. In keeping with those provisions, this Court has often rejected the Government's calls to cabin the FTCA on the ground that it waives sovereign immunity—and indeed, the Court did so in the years immediately after the Act's passage, even as it was construing other waivers of immunity narrowly. See, e. g., United States v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 338 U. S. 366, 383 (1949); Indian Towing Co. v. United States, 350 U. S. 61, 65 (1955); Rayonier Inc. v. United States, 352 U. S. 315, 319– 320 (1957). There is no reason to do differently here. As

Our precedents make this a clear-cut case. Irwin requires an affirmative indication from Congress that it intends to preclude equitable tolling in a suit against the Government. See 498 U. S., at 95–96. Congress can provide that signal by making a statute of limitations jurisdictional. But that requires its own plain statement; otherwise, we treat a time bar as a mere claims-processing rule. See Auburn Regional, 568 U. S., at 153–154. Congress has supplied no such statement here. As this Court has repeatedly stated, nothing about § 2401(b)'s core language is special; “shall be forever barred” is an ordinary (albeit old-fashioned) way of setting a deadline, which does not preclude tolling when circumstances warrant. See Irwin, 498 U. S., at 95–96; John R. Sand, 552 U. S., at 137, 139; American Pipe , 414 U. S., at 558–559. And it makes no difference that a time bar conditions a waiver of sovereign immunity, even if Congress enacted the measure when different interpretive conventions applied; that is the very point of this Court's decision to treat time bars in suits against the Government, whenever passed, the same as in litigation between private parties. See Irwin, 498 U. S., at 95–96; Scarborough, 541 U. S., at 420– 422; Franconia, 536 U. S., at 145. Accordingly, we hold that the FTCA's time bars are nonjurisdictional and subject to equitable tolling.

We affirm the judgments of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and remand the cases for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. On remand in June , it is

It is so ordered.

Justice Alito , with whom The Chief Justice, Justice Scalia, and Justice Thomas join, dissenting.

Our task in these cases is to interpret and enforce a federal statute that specifies the limits of the waiver of sovereign immunity in the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The FTCA waives the immunity of the United States for certain tort claims but provides that any “tort claim against the United States shall be forever barred unless” it is filed with the appropriate agency “within two years after such claim accrues” and in federal court “within six months after” the agency's final decision. 28 U. S. C. § 2401(b). The statutory text, its historical roots, and more than a century of precedents show that this absolute bar is not subject to equitable tolling. I would enforce the statute as Congress intended and reverse.

The FTCA is a waiver of sovereign immunity and must be understood in that context. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Congress was reluctant to allow individual tort claims against the United States. Instead, it granted relief to individuals through private laws enacted solely for those individuals' benefit. These waivers of sovereign immunity were surgical and sporadic, but “notoriously clumsy,” and by 1946 Congress thought it better to adopt a “simplified” approach. Dalehite v. United States, 346 U. S. 15, 24–25 (1953). The FTCA thus waived sovereign immunity for tort claims against the Government and set out a procedure for adjudicating those claims.

This waiver of sovereign immunity was no trivial matter. Long before the FTCA, Congress authorized suits against the Government for contract and property claims under the Tucker Act and a number of predecessor statutes, but the

To reduce these risks, Congress placed strict limits on the FTCA's waiver of sovereign immunity. The statute “exempts from [its] waiver certain categories of claims,” Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 552 U. S. 214, 218 (2008), and includes a broad exemption for claims “arising out of assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, libel, slander, misrepresentation, deceit, or interference with contract rights.” 28 U. S. C. § 2680(h); see also §§ 2680(a)–(n). In addition, in order to limit the scope and unpredictability of the Government's potential liability, the Act exempts from the waiver of sovereign immunity certain types of recovery, such as prejudgment interest and punitive damages. See § 2674.

Most relevant here, the FTCA “condition[s]” its waiver of sovereign immunity on strict fling deadlines. United States v. Kubrick, 444 U. S. 111, 117 (1979). As enacted in 1946, the Act granted district courts exclusive jurisdiction over tort claims against the Government, “[s]ubject to the [other] provisions of” the Act. FTCA, ch. 753, § 410(a), 60 Stat. 843–844. One of those provisions stated that “[e]very claim against the United States cognizable under this title shall be forever barred, unless within one year after such claim accrued . . . it is presented in writing to the [relevant] Federal agency . . . or . . . an action is begun” in federal court. § 420, id., at 845. The current version provides in full as follows:

“A tort claim against the United States shall be forever barred unless it is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues or unless action is begun within six months after the date of mailing, by certified or registered mail, of notice of final denial of the claim by the agency to which it was presented.” 28 U. S. C. § 2401(b).

The question presented in these two cases is whether the FTCA's fling deadlines are subject to equitable tolling. We must therefore decide (1) whether the deadlines are “jurisdictional” in nature, so that courts are without power to adjudicate claims filed outside their strict limits and (2) if they are not jurisdictional, whether the statute nonetheless prohibits equitable tolling. Both of these inquiries require close attention to the text, context, and history of the Act. And both lead to the conclusion that the FTCA allows no equitable tolling.

The FTCA's fling deadlines are jurisdictional. The statute's plain text prohibits adjudication of untimely claims. Once the Act's fling deadlines have run, all untimely claims “shall be forever barred.” Ibid. These words are not qual-ifed or aspirational. They are absolute. If not filed with the agency within two years, or with a federal court within six months, a claim “shall be” “barred” “forever.” “Shall be forever barred” is not generally understood to mean “should be allowed sometimes.” The statute brooks no exceptions. And because the filing deadlines restrict the FTCA's waiver of sovereign immunity, they impose a limit on the courts' jurisdiction that “we should not take it upon ourselves to extend.” Kubrick, supra, at 117–118.

For over 130 years, we have understood these terms as jurisdictional. When crafting the FTCA's limitations provi-

As early as 1883, we interpreted these precise terms to impose a “jurisdiction[al]” requirement that the “court may not disregard.” Kendall v. United States, 107 U. S. 123, 125. We emphasized that, when waiving sovereign immunity, Congress “may restrict the jurisdiction of the [courts] to certain classes of demands.” Ibid. And we held that “[t]he express words of the statute leave no room for contention.” Ibid. The Court thus had no “authority to engraft” an equitable tolling provision where Congress had so clearly constrained the Judiciary's authority. Ibid.

Over the ensuing decades, we repeatedly reaffirmed our interpretation of the phrase. In Finn v. United States, 123 U. S. 227, 232 (1887), we held that the Government could not waive the jurisdictional time bar and thus that the “duty of the court” was “to dismiss the petition” when a plaintiff raised an untimely claim. We reached the same conclusion in De Arnaud v. United States, 151 U. S. 483, 495–496 (1894). We reaffirmed the rule in United States v. New York, 160 U. S. 598, 616–619 (1896), while holding that there was jurisdiction where the plaintiff presented its claim before the statutory deadline. And in Munro v. United States, 303 U. S. 36, 38, n. 1, 41 (1938), we held that a District Court lacked jurisdiction to resolve untimely claims, even if the Government waived any objection, under a different statute that incorporated the Tucker Act's time limits. All the

The FTCA's statutory terms must be understood in this context. When Congress crafted the FTCA as a tort-based analogue to the Tucker Act, it consciously borrowed the well-known wording of the Tucker Act's fling deadline. Then, as now, it was settled that “[i]n adopting the language used in an earlier act, Congress must be considered to have adopted also the construction given by this Court to such language, and made it a part of the enactment.” Hecht v. Malley, 265 U. S. 144, 153 (1924); see also Shapiro v. United States, 335 U. S. 1, 16 (1948); Sekhar v. United States, 570 U. S. 729, 733 (2013) (“ `[I]f a word is obviously transplanted from another legal source, whether the common law or other legislation, it brings the old soil with it' ” (quoting Frankfurter, Some Reflections on the Reading of Statutes, 47 Colum. L. Rev. 527, 537 (1947))).

Indeed, Congress considered departing from the Tucker Act's prohibition on equitable tolling, but decided against it. Proposals to include an equitable tolling provision were “included in nine of the thirty-one bills prior to the enactment of the FTCA,” but “the Act passed by the 1946 Congress did not provide for any equitable tolling of the limitations

The evidence of statutory meaning does not end there. We reaffirmed the phase's jurisdictional nature in the decades following the FTCA's enactment. In Soriano v. United States, 352 U. S. 270 (1957), we rejected a request to allow equitable tolling under the Tucker Act. Confirming the connection between the Tucker Act and the FTCA, we noted that “statutes permitting suits for tax refunds, tort actions, alien property litigation, patent cases, and other claims against the Government would be affected” if the Court allowed equitable tolling under the Tucker Act. Id., at 275 (emphasis added). And in Kubrick, 444 U. S., at 117–118, we cited Soriano's warning while emphasizing that the FTCA's time limits are a condition of the Act's waiver of sovereign immunity.

The lower courts also quickly recognized the statutes' common heritage and enforced § 2401(b) as a jurisdictional requirement. In Anderegg v. United States, 171 F. 2d 127, 128 (1948) (per curiam ), the Fourth Circuit cited Finn and Munro while holding that the FTCA's fling deadline is a jurisdictional limit that the Government cannot waive. The

That meaning, of course, cannot change over time. But even if there were any doubt, we recently reaffirmed our view in John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States, 552 U. S. 130 (2008). We explained that, unlike run-of-the-mill statutes of limitations, jurisdictional time limits “seek . . . to achieve a broader system-related goal, such as facilitating the administration of claims, limiting the scope of a governmental waiver of sovereign immunity, or promoting judicial efficiency.” Id., at 133 (citations omitted). Recounting our decisions in Kendall, Finn, De Arnaud, New York, and Sori-ano, we “reiterated” our understanding of the “absolute nature of the court of claims limitations statute.” 552 U. S., at 135. And we rejected an invitation to abandon that interpretation, noting that Congress has long accepted our interpretation of the statute. Id., at 139.

The same must be said of the FTCA. As we have often explained, “[w]hen a long line of this Court's decisions left undisturbed by Congress has treated a similar requirement

Even if the FTCA's fling deadlines are not jurisdictional, they still prohibit equitable tolling. To be sure, in recent years, we have grown reluctant to affix the “jurisdictional” label. See, e. g., Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U. S. 500, 510 (2006); Henderson, supra, at 434–436. “But calling a rule nonjurisdictional does not mean that it is not mandatory.” Gonzalez v. Thaler, 565 U. S. 134, 146 (2012). Where Congress imposes an inflexible claims processing rule, it is our duty to enforce the law and prohibit equitable tolling, whether it is jurisdictional or not.

Here, Congress' intent is clear. The words of the statute leave no doubt that untimely claims are never allowed: They are “ forever barred.” This is no weak-kneed command. The history underlying the text only bolsters its apparent meaning, and our repeated reaffirmation of the phrase's meaning should remove any doubt. Congress never meant for equitable tolling to be available under the FTCA.

The only factor pointing in the opposite direction is our suggestion in Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 498 U. S. 89, 95–96 (1990), that we would thenceforth apply a rebuttable presumption in favor of equitable tolling in suits against the Government. But it is beyond me how Irwin's judge-made presumption announced in 1990 can trump the obvious meaning of a statute enacted many decades earlier.

The Court's contrary conclusion is wrong at every step. In its view, § 2401(b)'s statutory text is “mundane” language that “ `reads like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill statute of limitations.' ” Ante, at 411. But “ordinary” nonjurisdictional time limits are typically directed at claimants. The deadline in Henderson, for example, required that “ a person adversely affected by [a Board of Veterans' Appeals] decision shall file a notice of appeal . . . within 120 days after” the decision. 38 U. S. C. § 7266(a) (emphasis added); 562 U. S., at 438. The “run-of-the-mill” limitations provision in Holland v. Florida, 560 U. S. 631, 647 (2010), likewise applied to the “person” responsible for filing: “A 1-year period of limitation shall apply to an application for a writ of habeas corpus by a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court.” 28 U. S. C. § 2244(d)(1) (emphasis added); 560 U. S., at 635. And the provision at issue in Irwin was similar, if not an even weaker command. It provided that “ `[w]ithin thirty days of receipt of notice of final action taken by . . . the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . . . an employee or applicant for employment . . . may file a civil action.' ” 498 U. S., at 94 (quoting 42 U. S. C. § 2000e–16(c) (1998 ed.); emphasis added).

The majority tells us this “old `ad hoc,' law-by-law approach”—also known as statutory interpretation—has been replaced with a broad presumption in favor of equitable tolling and a judicial preference against jurisdictional labels. Ante, at 408. I dispute the premise. But in any event, as I explained above, and as six Members of the current Court held in John R. Sand & Gravel, the overwhelming evidence of congressional intent here easily overtakes Irwin's rebuttable presumption. Even if we would rather not call § 2401(b)'s deadlines “jurisdictional,” with all that label entails, we must nonetheless recognize that Congress never meant to allow equitable tolling.

The majority avoids this latter point by declining to give it any separate attention. See ante, at 408, n. 2. But we cannot conflate the two questions because, though the relevant evidence is the same, the analysis is different. In particular, the majority is wrong to rely on Irwin when assessing the jurisdictional question, which is the only question it really

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For these reasons, I would hold that § 2401(b) does not allow equitable tolling, and I therefore respectfully dissent.