United States Court of Appeals 

for the Federal Circuit ______________________ 

ARIEL RODRIGUEZ,

Petitioner

v.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS,

Respondent

______________________ 

2019-2025

______________________ 

Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection 

Board in No. AT-0714-18-0735-I-1.

______________________ 

Decided: August 12, 2021

______________________ 

JAMES SOLOMON, Solomon, Maharaj & Kasimati, P.A., 

Tampa, FL, argued for petitioner. 

 IGOR HELMAN, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, 

DC, argued for respondent. Also represented by REGINALD 

THOMAS BLADES, JR., ROBERT EDWARD KIRSCHMAN, JR.,

RICHARD POWERS, JOSHUA MARC SALZMAN. 

 ______________________ 

Before LOURIE, BRYSON, and O’MALLEY, Circuit Judges. 

BRYSON, Circuit Judge. 

Case: 19-2025 Document: 58 Page: 1 Filed: 08/12/2021
2 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

In August 2018, petitioner Ariel R. Rodriguez was removed from his position with the Department of Veterans 

Affairs (“DVA”) pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 714. The Merit 

Systems Protection Board upheld his removal. We reverse 

and remand.

I 

Prior to his removal, Mr. Rodriguez was employed as a 

Supervisory Consumer Affairs Specialist with the Patient 

Advocate’s Office at the DVA’s Bay Pines, Florida, facility. 

On March 13, 2018, a veteran patient visited the Patient 

Advocate’s Office seeking assistance regarding a co-payment on a medical bill. Mr. Rodriguez and the patient engaged in a confrontation that escalated to the point that 

Mr. Rodriguez summoned VA Police Service officers. During the confrontation, Mr. Rodriguez yelled at the patient 

and used profanity. After the police officers arrived, they

directed Mr. Rodriguez to leave the reception area and ultimately had to escort him back to his office. However, Mr. 

Rodriguez subsequently returned to the reception area, 

where he again confronted the patient.

The DVA initiated an investigation of the incident, during which Mr. Rodriguez was temporarily relieved of his 

supervisory responsibilities in the Patient Advocate’s Office. During his suspension, Mr. Rodriguez contacted Carrie Adams, one of his subordinates, and asked her to modify 

the witness statement she had submitted regarding Mr. 

Rodriguez’s confrontation with the patient. 

The DVA investigation was directed to allegations of 

verbal abuse, a code of conduct violation, and lack of candor 

by Mr. Rodriguez in connection with the March 13, 2018, 

incident. As part of the investigation, Mr. Rodriguez submitted a voluntary witness statement. He was later given 

an opportunity to amend that statement but declined to do 

so.

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 3

The DVA investigator made a series of findings. First, 

he found that Mr. Rodriguez engaged in patient abuse by 

yelling and using profanity directed at the patient and 

leaning over an office desk toward the patient in a threatening manner. Second, he found that Mr. Rodriguez violated the DVA Code of Conduct through his disruptive 

behavior with the patient and with the police officers who 

were summoned to deal with the incident. In particular, 

the investigator found that Mr. Rodriguez failed to follow 

the lead officer’s instruction to return to his office, that the 

police had to escort Mr. Rodriguez to his office, and that 

Mr. Rodriguez returned to the reception area in order to reengage with the patient. Third, the investigator found unsubstantiated the allegation that Mr. Rodriguez had attempted to coerce one of the police officers into changing 

his account of the incident. Fourth, the investigator found 

substantiated the allegation that Mr. Rodriguez had attempted to coerce Ms. Adams into changing her account of 

the incident. Specifically, the investigator found that Mr. 

Rodriguez had made statements to Ms. Adams that left her 

in fear of retaliation if she did not change her testimony. 

Fifth, the investigator found that Mr. Rodriguez had displayed a lack of candor in his written and verbal accounts 

of the incident and in denying that he had made the statements reported by Ms. Adams, including the statement 

that no harm would come to her if she helped him. 

The investigator consulted the table of penalties in the 

DVA handbook and concluded that in light of the nature of 

the offenses and the presence of aggravating factors, the 

appropriate penalty was removal. The investigator identified the following aggravating factors: (1) Mr. Rodriguez

was a supervisor; (2) his position as an advocate for patients was a sensitive one, and his conduct had the effect of 

compromising the trust associated with that position; (3) 

he had previously been disciplined for job-related misconduct; (4) he was a member of the Director’s Office and was 

responsible for ensuring that his conduct was beyond 

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4 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

reproach; and (5) he was given two opportunities during 

the incident to de-escalate the situation but failed to do so. 

On June 18, 2018, Teresa E. Kumar, the Associate Director of Patient Services at the Bay Pines facility, provided Mr. Rodriguez with a Notice of Proposed Removal 

based on three charges: (1) disruptive behavior toward a 

veteran patient; (2) conduct unbecoming a federal supervisor, consisting of his attempt to influence Ms. Adams’s testimony regarding the incident; and (3) lack of candor, based 

on the fact that Mr. Rodriguez’s account of the altercation 

deviated substantially from the accounts of the other witnesses to the incident. 

Ms. Kumar stated in the Notice of Proposed Removal 

that she had determined that Mr. Rodriguez’s conduct warranted removal “because the Agency cannot tolerate abusive conduct toward any patient and not only were you 

inappropriate with a Veteran patient but after others intervened to de-escalate the conflict you escalated it a second time.” J.A. 38. She added that there was a substantial 

nexus between Mr. Rodriguez’s misconduct and his job responsibilities as an advocate for veterans. In addition, she 

noted that in his role as a supervisor Mr. Rodriguez was 

expected “to model the highest level of professional conduct” and that as a member of the Director’s Office staff he 

was “held to even a higher standard of proper conduct and 

professionalism.” Id. Finally, she noted that in December 

2017, Mr. Rodriguez had been disciplined for a separate violation in connection with his employment. 

On August 24, 2018, after Mr. Rodriguez was given an 

opportunity to reply to the Notice of Proposed Removal, Suzanne M. Klinker, the Director of the DVA’s Bay Pines 

Healthcare System, issued a decision removing Mr. Rodriguez effective August 30, 2018. Ms. Klinker sustained all 

three charges against Mr. Rodriguez, finding that they 

were all “supported by substantial evidence.” J.A. 263. She 

added that in making her decision she had “reviewed the 

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 5

reasons and analysis the proposing official provided in paragraph 2 of the Notice of Proposed Removal” regarding the 

justifications for the level of discipline set forth in the proposed removal, and that she “agree[d] with” and 

“adopt[ed]” the reasoning of the proposing official in reaching her decision that Mr. Rodriguez should be removed. Id.

Mr. Rodriguez appealed his removal to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Following a hearing in March 

2019, the administrative judge who was assigned to the 

case upheld the removal action. The administrative judge 

stated that in order to sustain an adverse decision before 

the Board under 38 U.S.C. § 714, the DVA “must establish 

by substantial evidence that there is a factual basis for the 

charged conduct.” J.A. 2. In addition, the administrative 

judge noted that in a proceeding under section 714, the 

Merit Systems Protection Board cannot mitigate the penalty imposed by the DVA, an authority that the Board enjoys under the general disciplinary procedures set forth in 

chapter 75 of Title 5. J.A. 2; see 38 U.S.C. § 714(d)(2)(B).

The administrative judge analyzed the three charges 

against Mr. Rodriguez and found that all three were supported by substantial evidence. J.A. 2–8. Mr. Rodriguez 

argued to the administrative judge that 38 U.S.C. § 714 violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution because it deprives a Board administrative judge of the 

opportunity to remedy improper decisionmaking by the 

agency. The administrative judge declined to address that 

issue, however, on the ground that the Merit Systems Protection Board may not consider whether a statute is unconstitutional. J.A. 8–9.

The administrative judge rejected Mr. Rodriguez’s 

claim that he was denied due process because the DVA’s 

deciding official “only skimmed portions” of his written response to the charges levied against him. J.A. 9 (alterations omitted). Mr. Rodriguez’s contention in that regard 

was based on the deciding official’s poor recollection of Mr. 

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6 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

Rodriguez’s written reply arguments during her deposition 

several months after Mr. Rodriguez’s removal. The administrative judge noted that the deciding official testified that 

she had read the entirety of Mr. Rodriguez’s written reply, 

and he found that “any gaps in her memory concerning its 

contents long afterward do not constitute a sufficient basis 

to conclude that statutory and constitutional due process 

requirements were not met.” J.A. 9–10.

Finally, the administrative judge addressed two procedural arguments made by Mr. Rodriguez. First, Mr. Rodriguez argued that the DVA had misapplied section 714 by 

concluding that the statute authorized the DVA to discipline an employee as long as substantial evidence supports 

a finding of misconduct. While recognizing that the substantial evidence standard governs the Board’s review of 

the DVA’s actions under section 714, Mr. Rodriguez 

pointed out that the statute requires that the DVA itself 

must “determine[] the performance or misconduct of the 

covered individual warrants . . . removal, demotion or suspension.” 38 U.S.C. § 714(a)(1). That standard, Mr. Rodriguez argued, requires the DVA to find that the misconduct 

in question was proved by at least a preponderance of the 

evidence. The administrative judge rejected that argument 

and concluded instead that the DVA was entitled to apply 

the “substantial evidence” test in deciding to remove an 

employee, “the same evidentiary standard . . . as pertains 

to the Board in adjudicating such appeals.” J.A. 14.

Mr. Rodriguez’s second asserted procedural error was

that the DVA failed to consider what are referred to as the 

Douglas factors when sustaining Mr. Rodriguez’s removal. 

See Douglas v. Veterans Admin., 5 M.S.P.R. 280 (1980). 

The administrative judge concluded that because section 

714 provides that the Board may not mitigate the penalty 

selected by the DVA, it would not make sense to require 

the agency official to “consider factors in mitigation under 

Douglas.” J.A. 15. In a footnote, the administrative judge 

stated that even if he were to conclude that the Board may

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 7

consider the reasonableness of the agency’s penalty, he 

“would find that the removal penalty in the present case is 

not ‘grossly disproportionate’ to the sustained misconduct.” 

J.A. 15 n.7.

Mr. Rodriguez petitioned this court to review the administrative judge’s decision.1 

II

Mr. Rodriguez lists eleven issues in the “Issues Presented” section of his brief, but in the argument section of 

his brief he has failed to present arguments regarding several of those issues. Because issues not addressed in the 

argument section of a party’s opening brief are considered 

waived, see Fox Factory, Inc. v. SRAM, LLC, 944 F.3d 1366, 

1379 (Fed. Cir. 2019), and SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. 

Apotex Corp., 439 F.3d 1312, 1319 (Fed. Cir. 2006), we will 

address only the issues Mr. Rodriguez has presented in the 

argument section of his brief. 

A 

We first address Mr. Rodriguez’s argument that the administrative judge misinterpreted 38 U.S.C. § 714 when he 

ruled that “substantial evidence” is the proper standard for 

the DVA to apply in determining whether an employee has 

engaged in misconduct that justifies discipline. On that issue, we agree with Mr. Rodriguez. 

Section 714 was enacted in 2017 to provide an expedited set of procedures by which the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs may remove, demote, or suspend DVA employees “if 

1 At the time of the administrative judge’s decision, 

the Merit Systems Protection Board lacked a quorum of at 

least two of its three members. Mr. Rodriguez elected to 

petition for review by this court directly from the administrative judge’s decision rather than first seeking review of 

the administrative judge’s decision by the Board. 

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8 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

the Secretary determines the performance or misconduct of 

the covered individual” warrants such measures. 38 U.S.C. 

§ 714(a)(1); see Brenner v. Dep’t of Veterans Affs., 990 F.3d 

1313, 1317–18 (Fed. Cir. 2021).

Section 714 made several changes to the procedures 

previously applied in disciplinary actions taken against 

DVA employees. First, section 714 provides for expedited 

review of disciplinary actions covered by the statute. 38 

U.S.C. § 714(d)(1), (d)(4). Second, it provides that on any 

appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board, the administrative judge and the Board will review the Secretary’s 

action under the “substantial evidence” standard; in cases 

covered by section 714, the DVA is not required to prove its 

case before the Board by a preponderance of the evidence, 

as is the case for employee disciplinary actions brought under chapter 75 of Title 5. Compare 38 U.S.C. § 714(d)(2)(A), 

(d)(3)(B), with 5 U.S.C. §§ 7513, 7701(c)(1)(B).2 Third, section 714 removes from the Board’s administrative judges 

and the Board itself the authority to mitigate the penalties 

imposed by the Secretary. 38 U.S.C. § 714(d)(2)(B), 

(d)(3)(C); see Sayers v. Dep’t of Veterans Affs., 954 F.3d 

1370, 1374–76 (Fed. Cir. 2020).

The government argues that the references to “substantial evidence” in section 714 are not limited to the 

standard of review to be employed by administrative 

judges and the Board in reviewing section 714 disciplinary 

decisions. Instead, the government contends that the “substantial evidence” standard also defines the burden of proof 

2 Agency actions based on unacceptable employee 

performance under chapter 43 of Title 5 are subject to review by the Merit Systems Protection Board under the substantial evidence standard. See 5 U.S.C. §§ 4303, 

7701(c)(1)(A). 

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 9

for the agency to make those disciplinary decisions in the 

first instance. 

The DVA has taken that position not only in litigation, 

but also in its internal guidance governing employee disciplinary matters. In a publication dated June 27, 2017, the 

DVA stated that for actions taken under section 714, “Substantial Evidence is the Standard of Proof,” and that “‘Substantial Evidence’ means relevant evidence that a 

reasonable person, considering the record as a whole, 

might accept as adequate to support a conclusion, even 

though other reasonable persons might disagree, or evidence that a reasonable mind would accept as adequate to 

support a conclusion.” DVA, Human Resources Management Letter No. 05-17-06, § 6.gg–hh, available at https://

www.afge.org/contentassets/a91c998d3be44362a75c5c67c

60852f7/full-policy-document-s.-1094-implementation.pdf. 

In this case, the deciding official, Ms. Klinker, appears 

to have applied the “substantial evidence” standard when 

resolving the disputed facts and selecting a penalty. Although she did not discuss the appropriate standard of proof 

in any detail, she stated that she had found that all three 

charges against Mr. Rodriguez “were supported by substantial evidence.” J.A. 263.3

3 In a vacuum, it might be possible to interpret the 

deciding official’s statement that the charges against Mr. 

Rodriguez were supported by “substantial evidence” to 

mean, in the lay sense of that term, that the charges were 

supported by a great deal of evidence. The problem, however, is that the DVA has made quite clear in its Human 

Resources Management Letter No. 05-17-06 that it considers the proper burden of proof in section 714 cases to be 

“substantial evidence” and that it uses that term in its legal 

sense to mean evidence that a reasonable person might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. In light of that 

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10 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

The administrative judge was more explicit in finding 

that “substantial evidence” is the appropriate standard of 

proof for the DVA to employ under section 714. As noted, 

the administrative judge observed that section 714 had 

changed the standard of review for administrative judges 

and the Board in cases covered by that statute from a preponderance of the evidence to substantial evidence. The 

administrative judge concluded that there was no reason 

to require a different standard from the agency when making its initial disciplinary determination. On appeal to this 

court, the government defends the administrative judge’s 

determination that substantial evidence is the appropriate 

standard of proof for the DVA to apply in employee disciplinary actions instituted under section 714.

We disagree. The references to “substantial evidence” 

in section 714 are all explicitly directed to the standard of 

review to be applied by administrative judges and the 

Board. Those references do not address the standard of 

proof to be applied by the DVA in making disciplinary determinations, nor does the remaining text of section 714 

explicitly address the standard of proof in proceedings before the DVA. There is therefore no force to the government’s reliance on the plain language of section 714 to 

support its argument that substantial evidence is the 

proper standard of proof for the DVA to apply in disciplinary actions governed by that statute.

To the contrary, the language of section 714 implies

that the proper standard is the preponderance of the evidence. Section 714 provides that an employee may be removed, demoted, or suspended “if the Secretary determines

the performance or misconduct of the covered individual 

explicit endorsement of the “substantial evidence” test as 

the burden of proof, it would be pure speculation to suppose 

that the deciding official used that term in a lay sense to 

mean something entirely different.

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 11

warrants” such action. In the case of a disciplinary action 

based on misconduct, the requirement that the Secretary 

“determine[]” that the misconduct in question warrants 

disciplinary action implies that the Secretary must find 

that it is likely, i.e., more likely than not, that the employee 

has engaged in the misconduct that justifies the proposed 

discipline.

More fundamentally, the government’s argument is inconsistent with the well-established distinction between a 

burden of proof and a standard of review.4 “Preponderance 

of the evidence” is a burden of proof, while “substantial evidence” is a standard of review. As explained by Professor 

Jaffe in a frequently cited article, the argument that “substantial evidence” is appropriate for use as a burden of 

proof “merges the function of factfinder with that of reviewing court: it argues that the factfinder is to find for the 

Government if he concludes that this finding should not be 

reversed by a court. But that is not the task of the factfinder, nor is it the attitude that he is to take toward his 

task.” Louis L. Jaffe, Administrative Law: Burden of Proof 

and Scope of Review, 79 Harv. L. Rev. 914, 915 (1966).

Courts have consistently drawn the same distinction. 

As the Supreme Court stated in Woodby v. INS, 385 U.S. 

276, 282 (1966), “[t]he elementary but crucial difference between burden of proof and scope of review is, of course, a 

commonplace in the law.” The D.C. Circuit summarized 

the distinction between the two standards succinctly in 

Whitney v. SEC, 604 F.2d 676 (D.C. Cir. 1979), where the 

court wrote: 

[T]he burden of proof and the scope of review in administrative law cases, as in ordinary judicial proceedings, are separate matters. The former is the 

4 We use “burden of proof” and “standard of proof” 

interchangeably in this opinion. 

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12 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

measure of belief which legally must exist in the 

mind of the trier of fact in order to sustain a finding. The scope of review, of course, marks the 

bounds of a reviewing court’s authority to set aside 

factual findings, and review is customarily limited 

to ascertaining whether there is enough evidence 

of the legally correct sort to save the findings from 

irrationality.

Id. at 681 (footnote omitted); see also Collins Secs. Corp. v. 

SEC, 562 F.2d 820, 823 n.12 (D.C. Cir. 1977) (“[T]he ‘substantial evidence’ standard does not in any way dictate the 

appropriate burden of persuasion to be applied in a proceeding before the agency.”). 

Preponderance of the evidence has long been recognized as the traditional burden of proof in civil administrative proceedings. See Herman & MacLean v. Huddleston, 

459 U.S. 375, 389–90 (1983) (preponderance of the evidence 

is the normal burden of proof in civil proceedings); Steadman v. SEC, 450 U.S. 91, 101 n.21 (1981) (“The use of the 

‘preponderance of evidence’ standard is the traditional 

standard in civil and administrative proceedings.” (quoting Sea Island Broad. Corp. of S.C. v. FCC, 627 F.2d 240, 

243 (D.C. Cir. 1980))). 

In Charlton v. FTC, 543 F.2d 903 (D.C. Cir. 1976), the 

court addressed an issue similar to the one before us and 

held that “substantial evidence” is not the proper burden of 

proof in a disciplinary proceeding before an agency. In that 

case, the FTC had determined that the appropriate burden 

of proof in a disciplinary action was substantial evidence. 

The court firmly rejected that view. Describing substantial 

evidence as “a totally incorrect standard of proof in passing 

on Charlton’s blameworthiness,” the court ruled that the 

agency “faltered grievously” in holding that its decision on 

a disciplinary action could be based on substantial evidence 

rather than a preponderance of the evidence. Id. at 906–

07. 

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 13

The Charlton court explained that on judicial review of 

agency action, administrative findings must be sustained 

when supported by substantial evidence on the record as a 

whole, but “that rule implicates only the reviewing court; 

the yardstick by which the agency itself is to initially ascertain the facts is something else again. . . . [I]n American 

law a preponderance of the evidence is rock bottom at the 

factfinding level of civil litigation. Nowhere in our jurisprudence have we discerned acceptance of a standard of 

proof tolerating ‘something less than the weight of the evidence.’” Id. at 907 (footnote omitted); see also SSIH Equip. 

S.A. v. U.S. Int’l Trade Comm’n, 718 F.2d 365, 379–83 (Fed. 

Cir. 1983) (Nies, J., concurring).

In Steadman v. SEC, 450 U.S. 91 (1981), the Supreme 

Court grappled with the poorly worded language of section 

7(c) of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C.

§ 556(d), which provided that a “sanction may not be imposed or rule or order issued except on consideration of the 

whole record or those parts thereof cited by a party and 

supported by and in accordance with the reliable, probative, and substantial evidence.” Despite the use of the term 

“substantial evidence,” the Court declined to interpret the 

statute as adopting “substantial evidence” as the burden of 

proof for proceedings governed by section 7(c). Relying on 

the words “in accordance with,” the Court held that the 

agency’s decision must be “‘in accordance with’ the weight 

of the evidence, not simply supported by enough evidence 

‘to justify, if the trial were to a jury, a refusal to direct a 

verdict when the conclusion sought to be drawn from it is 

one of fact for the jury.’” Steadman, 450 U.S. at 98–99

(quoting Consolo v. FMC, 383 U.S. 607, 620 (1966)). Thus, 

even in the face of the statute’s explicit use of the term 

“substantial evidence,” the Supreme Court refused to substitute that standard for “the traditional preponderance-ofthe-evidence standard” as the burden of proof. Id. at 102.

In arguing that “substantial evidence” is the proper 

burden of proof for the DVA to apply in making disciplinary 

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14 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

determinations in section 714 cases, the government relies 

on a footnote in Sayers v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 

954 F.3d 1370, 1374 n.4 (Fed. Cir. 2020). In that footnote 

we observed, correctly, that “nothing in [section 714] compels the VA to apply a substantial evidence standard for 

removal rather than a preponderance standard.” Id. In 

dictum, we then added that “nothing [in the statute] prevents the VA from doing so,” and that because the statute 

“leaves the proper standard to the VA’s discretion, the VA 

did not err by choosing substantial evidence review.” Id.

To the extent the government argues that we are bound 

by Sayers’s suggestion that the DVA is free to apply substantial evidence as the burden of proof in section 714

cases, we disagree. The footnote containing that suggestion is dictum, as it was not necessary to our analysis of 

section 714 and our conclusion that the statute could not 

be applied retroactively to Dr. Sayers. See Sayers, 954 F.3d 

at 1382. 

There are strong reasons that section 714 should not be 

interpreted to endorse the use of substantial evidence as a 

burden of proof. To adopt substantial evidence as the applicable burden of proof in section 714 disciplinary cases 

would mean that the deciding official would be required to 

find that the employee had engaged in the charged misconduct as long as substantial evidence supports the charge, 

i.e., as long as a reasonable person might accept the evidence as adequate to support that conclusion. That is to 

say, the deciding official could (indeed, would be required 

to) find against the employee with regard to the charged 

misconduct even though the deciding official did not personally agree with that conclusion. That scenario would be 

at odds with the requirement that the deciding official, as 

the delegee of the Secretary, “determine” that the employee 

engaged in the misconduct justifying discipline, as required by section 714. It would also be contrary to the traditional principle that in order for an agency to take 

disciplinary action against an individual based on 

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 15

predicate facts, it must find those facts; absent clear authority to the contrary, it is not enough for an agency to

conclude merely that a reasonable person could make such 

a finding. 

During oral argument, the government responded to 

questions on this point by saying, essentially, that it was 

unrealistic to suppose that a deciding official would impose 

punishment when the official did not conclude that it was 

more likely than not that the employee had committed the 

charged misconduct. In effect, the government argued that 

the distinction between the preponderance test and the 

substantial evidence test is inconsequential in this context.

The problem with the government’s argument is that if 

there is no meaningful difference in practice between the 

preponderance test and the substantial evidence test, then 

there is no reason for the government to object to the use

of preponderance of the evidence as the burden of proof in 

section 714 cases. On the other hand, if there is a meaningful difference between the two, then that difference 

would surface in the setting in which the deciding official 

did not believe the misconduct had occurred, or was unsure 

whether it had been proved, but believed that a reasonable 

person could have found that the misconduct took place. In 

that setting, we conclude that using substantial evidence 

as the burden of proof would not only violate the terms of 

section 714, but would be contrary to the well-established 

principle that preponderance of the evidence is the minimal appropriate burden of proof in administrative proceedings.5

5 In certain circumstances, courts have held that the 

burden of proof in administrative proceedings is higher 

than a preponderance of the evidence. See, e.g., Herman & 

MacLean, 459 U.S. at 389 (proof by clear and convincing 

evidence is applied in cases in which “particularly 

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16 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

There may be exceptional circumstances in which a 

lower burden of proof than preponderance of the evidence 

could legitimately be applied. Examples might include

cases in which the issue is whether a person should be 

given a top-secret clearance despite serious concerns about 

the person’s background. But those circumstances would 

be rare and would typically require an explicit directive to 

use a burden of proof lower than preponderance in order to 

justify departing from the traditional standard. Section 

714 does not present such unusual circumstances, and it 

does not contain any language stating explicitly, or even 

implicitly, that the burden of proof in disciplinary actions 

should be substantial evidence.

The deciding official in this case characterized “substantial evidence” as the applicable burden of proof. And it 

is clear that the administrative judge approved of the 

agency’s use of substantial evidence as the burden of proof, 

because the administrative judge concluded that the level 

of proof required of the agency should be the same as the 

standard of review by the Board. We therefore reverse the 

administrative judge’s ruling on the burden of proof issue 

and remand for further proceedings on that issue. Presumably those further proceedings will include requiring the 

DVA’s deciding official to determine whether the evidence 

as to each of the charges against Mr. Rodriguez satisfied 

the preponderance of the evidence standard of proof. 

B 

Mr. Rodriguez also contends that the administrative 

judge erred by refusing to review the penalty determination made by the DVA and in particular refusing to review 

the agency’s failure to apply the Douglas factors.

important individual interests or rights are at stake.”); see 

also Woodby, 385 U.S. at 282. 

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 17

The administrative judge noted that although the 

Board has the authority to mitigate penalties in chapter 75 

appeals, section 714 expressly deprives the Board of that 

authority. As a result, the administrative judge concluded,

section 714 had the effect of depriving the Board of any 

power to review penalties imposed in DVA disciplinary actions. We rejected that position in Sayers and in other postSayers decisions, all of which were issued after the administrative judge’s decision in this case. See Brenner, 990 

F.3d at 1322–27; Harrington v. Dep’t of Veterans Affs., 981 

F.3d 1356, 1358–59 (Fed. Cir. 2020).

The government argues that even though the Board 

may review the penalty determination, the Board is not required to analyze the factors enumerated in Douglas when 

reviewing the choice of penalty, nor is the DVA required to 

analyze those factors when selecting the penalty. We rejected that argument in Connor v. Dep’t of Veterans Affs., 

No. 21-1064 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 12, 2021), where we held that 

the Board must consider the relevant Douglas factors when 

reviewing a disciplinary action under section 714. We echo 

our holding in Connor. 

Although section 714 provides that the Board may not 

mitigate penalties imposed under that statute, this court 

has made clear that the absence of mitigation authority 

does not deprive the Board of the authority to review penalties for substantial evidence. Further, the power to mitigate penalties by imposing a penalty that the Board 

regards as proper is distinct from the power to review and 

strike down the DVA’s imposition of penalties that are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or not in accordance with law. See Brenner, 990 F.3d at 1323–24 (citing 5 

U.S.C. § 7703(c)).

We explained in Brenner that an agency abuses its discretion when its decision “represents an unreasonable 

judgment in weighing relevant factors,” and a decision is 

arbitrary and capricious “where the agency fails to 

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18 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

articulate a rational connection between the facts found 

and the choice made.” 990 F.3d at 1324 (internal quotation 

marks omitted). As noted in Sayers, the Board’s decision 

in Douglas itself was based on the principle set forth by the 

Supreme Court in Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. 

Volpe, 401 U.S. 402 (1971): For a reviewing tribunal to find 

a decision not arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, 

or otherwise not in accordance with law, that decision must 

have been based “on a consideration of the relevant factors 

and whether there has been a clear error of judgment,” id.

at 416. See Douglas, 5 M.S.P.R. at 301. Accordingly, because the Board must review the DVA’s penalty selection 

in a section 714 case, that review must ensure that the 

DVA considered the relevant factors bearing on the penalty 

determination. 

In prior cases, we have endorsed the Board’s and agencies’ use of the relevant Douglas factors to assist their selection of penalties in employee discipline cases under 

chapter 75. See, e.g., Higgins v. Dep’t of Veterans Affs., 955 

F.3d 1347, 1353 (Fed. Cir. 2020) (“To take adverse action 

against an employee, an agency must . . . demonstrate that 

the penalty imposed was reasonable in light of the relevant 

factors set forth in Douglas v. Veterans Administration.” 

(cleaned up)); Smith v. Gen. Servs. Admin., 930 F.3d 1359, 

1369 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (“The penalty chosen by the agency 

must represent a responsible balancing of the relevant 

Douglas factors.”); Kumferman v. Dep’t of the Navy, 785 

F.2d 286, 291 (Fed. Cir. 1986) (“It is not reversible error if 

the Board fails expressly to discuss all of the Douglas factors. . . . The Board need only determine that the agency 

considered the factors significant to the particular case.” 

(citation omitted)). Accordingly, as we explained in Connor, because our chapter 75 case law demands consideration of the relevant Douglas factors in misconduct cases, 

and because section 714 also covers misconduct, the Board 

must consider the relevant Douglas factors when reviewing 

a disciplinary action under section 714.

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 19

As an alternative argument, the government contends

that even if the administrative judge erred by holding that 

section 714 bars any Board review of the penalty imposed 

against Mr. Rodriguez, the error was harmless. In support 

of that argument, the government points to the administrative judge’s statement that even if he were to conclude 

that the Board has the authority to review the reasonableness of the penalty in a section 714 case, he “would find 

that the removal penalty in the present case is not ‘grossly 

disproportionate’ to the sustained misconduct.” J.A. 15 n.7. 

The problem with the government’s argument is that a 

penalty may be overturned not only because it is unreasonable on its face by being “unconscionably disproportionate” 

to the offense, see, e.g., Parker v. U.S. Postal Serv., 819 F.2d 

1113, 1116 (Fed. Cir. 1987), but also because the deciding 

official did not weigh the relevant factors bearing on the 

appropriateness of the penalty, including the relevant 

Douglas factors, see, e.g., Higgins, 955 F.3d at 1353. See 

also Koester v. U.S. Park Police, 758 F. App’x 925, 929–31 

(Fed. Cir. 2019) (“We review arbitration decisions [under 

the same standards as if reviewing a decision from the 

Board]. . . . There is no reason to believe that the arbitrator failed to consider or independently assess any relevant 

Douglas factor. Moreover, the Park Police’s removal penalty is not so harsh and grossly or unconsciously disproportionate to the offense that it amounts to an abuse of 

discretion for the arbitrator to have considered it reasonable.”).

The administrative judge’s statement may satisfy the 

requirement that the penalty not be unreasonable on its 

face, but it does not satisfy the second requirement, that 

the penalty be selected according to proper procedures, i.e.,

by considering the relevant Douglas factors. For that reason, the administrative judge’s ruling on the penalty decision cannot be upheld.

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20 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

C 

In addition to his statutory claims, Mr. Rodriguez 

raises several constitutional challenges to his removal. 

1 

1. Mr. Rodriguez contends that he was denied due process because of the manner in which his case was handled 

within the DVA. To the extent he claims that the DVA’s 

use of the substantial evidence standard of proof constituted a due process violation, that claim is moot, as we have 

held that substantial evidence may not be used as the 

standard of proof in disciplinary actions under section 714.

Mr. Rodriguez next contends that he was effectively denied a right to reply to the charges against him because the 

deciding official, Ms. Klinker, merely “skimmed” his written response to those charges. Petitioner’s Br. 46–48. Mr. 

Rodriguez bases his contention on Ms. Klinker’s inability 

to recall details of Mr. Rodriguez’s response while she testified before the administrative judge. The administrative 

judge addressed that issue and found that “any gaps in her

memory concerning [the response’s] contents long afterward do not constitute a sufficient basis to conclude that 

statutory and constitutional due process requirements 

were not met.” J.A. 10. 

The administrative judge presided over the videoconference hearing and had an opportunity to assess Ms. 

Klinker’s credibility both generally and as to this issue. Because the administrative judge was far better situated than 

we are to assess Ms. Klinker’s testimony, we decline to second-guess the administrative judge’s finding that the gaps 

in Ms. Klinker’s memory concerning the contents of Mr. Rodriguez’s written response do not support his claim that 

Ms. Klinker failed to consider his written response and 

that he was therefore effectively denied the right to respond to the charges against him. 

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 21

Mr. Rodriguez also argues that Ms. Klinker’s written 

decision was not sufficiently detailed to satisfy due process 

requirements. While the substantive portion of Ms. 

Klinker’s removal decision was short, it referenced and 

adopted the pertinent provisions of the notice of proposed 

removal, which contained substantial detail regarding the 

charges against Mr. Rodriguez and the justifications for removing him. See J.A. 263 (referencing J.A. 37–39). The 

materials generated by the DVA and provided to Mr. Rodriguez were sufficient both to give him notice of the 

charges against him and to explain the decision to remove 

him. Accordingly, we reject Mr. Rodriguez’s due process 

claims predicated on alleged flaws in the proceedings before the DVA.

2. Mr. Rodriguez next argues that the delegation of the 

Secretary’s removal and disciplinary authority to Ms. 

Klinker was improper because, “if the Board has been 

stripped of their ability to mitigate a severe penalty or 

overturn decisions they believe incorrect on a preponderance standard, then it forces the members of the Board—

who are appointed by the President with the advice and 

consent of the Senate—to rubber stamp decisions by mere 

employees and/or inferior officers that they believe are 

wrongly decided.” Petitioner’s Br. 31. 

On its face, that argument appears to be an objection 

to the delegation of authority from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to Ms. Klinker, the Director of the Bay Pines 

VA Medical Center. The implication of the argument is

that if the Secretary had personally fired Mr. Rodriguez instead of delegating that task to Ms. Klinker, the limits on 

the Board’s reviewing authority would not be unlawful. 

Contrary to Mr. Rodriguez’s argument, however, the Constitution permits principal officers to delegate duties and 

functions to other officers and employees, see Touby v. 

United States, 500 U.S. 160, 169 (1991), and the Secretary’s 

delegation of removal and disciplinary authority to the 

head of a DVA medical center is a lawful delegation, see 38 

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22 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

U.S.C. § 512(a).6 Thus, there is no merit to Mr. Rodriguez’s 

contention that it is somehow improper for the Board to defer (by dint of the substantial evidence standard) to removal decisions by agency employees other than the 

Secretary.

Embedded within Mr. Rodriguez’s one-sentence objection to the delegation of authority to Director Klinker is the 

suggestion that by making the Board’s review of the DVA’s 

adverse actions subject to the substantial evidence standard, instead of the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, section 714 has impermissibly limited the Board’s role 

in removal proceedings. See Petitioner’s Br. 31.7 That 

6 See also VA Directive/Handbook 5021, § I-3.5.a 

(Apr. 15, 2002) (“[F]ield facility directors are responsible 

for: . . . . (2) Delegating to supervisors appropriate authority for the direction and discipline of employees under their 

jurisdiction and assuring proper supervisory training.”); id.

at § I-3.6.b(5)(b) (“The official who may issue a letter of decision must be at a higher level than the proposing official, 

and at or above the director level in a field facility . . . . The 

Secretary or designee retains the authority to make the final decision on adverse actions involving employees occupying positions centralized to the Secretary.”).

7 As part of his contention that the Board’s use of 

substantial evidence review forces the Board to “rubber 

stamp” decisions of the DVA’s deciding official, Mr. Rodriguez separately complains that employees are “only given 

the constitutional right to cross-examine witnesses after 

the removal decision is effectively final because the Board 

must uphold the deciding official’s conclusion even though 

it was made on an incomplete record.” Petitioner’s Br. 35. 

To the extent that sentence constitutes a constitutional objection to the limits on the post-termination proceeding before the Board, it is undeveloped. Indeed, that claim is not 

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 23

suggestion, however, is not supported by authority or further developed as an argument in Mr. Rodriguez’s brief. 

An issue that is merely alluded to and not developed as 

an argument in a party’s brief is deemed waived. See Arunachalam v. Int’l Bus. Mach. Corp., 989 F.3d 988, 999 (Fed. 

Cir. 2021); CardSoft v. Verifone, Inc., 769 F.3d 1114, 1119 

(Fed. Cir. 2014); SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Apotex 

Corp., 439 F.3d 1312, 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2006). In this case, 

Mr. Rodriguez’s passing complaints about the substantial 

evidence standard of review in section 714 are insufficiently developed as a constitutional claim and are unsupported by the citation to any authority. That claim is 

therefore waived. 

In any event, there are problems with the challenge to 

the Board’s use of the substantial evidence standard to 

which Mr. Rodriguez has not provided answers. Although 

Mr. Rodriguez suggests that there was a flaw in the proceedings before the Board, the post-termination hearing 

held before the administrative judge was a full adversarial 

hearing at which Mr. Rodriguez was given an opportunity 

to call and cross-examine witnesses. Mr. Rodriguez offers 

no explanation for why such a post-termination hearing is 

constitutionally invalid simply because the governing statute requires the decisionmaker to apply substantial evidence as the standard for reviewing the agency’s action.

Mr. Rodriguez also does not explain why his objection 

to section 714’s substantial evidence standard would not be 

equally applicable to the substantial evidence standard applied in proceedings under chapter 43 of Title 5. While the 

preponderance standard applies to post-termination hearings in adverse action appeals under chapter 75, see 5 

U.S.C. § 7701(c)(1)(B), that standard does not apply to 

even among the eleven issues listed in the “Statement of 

the Issues” portion of Mr. Rodriguez’s brief. See id. at 1–3.

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24 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

appeals under chapter 43, which deals with adverse actions 

based on unacceptable performance. Chapter 43 appeals, 

like appeals under section 714, are expressly made subject 

to substantial evidence review in proceedings before the 

Board, see id. § 7701(c)(1)(A); 38 U.S.C. § 714(d)(2)(A), 

(d)(3)(B). If the use of the substantial evidence standard in 

post-termination proceedings violates due process, then 

the constitutionality of chapter 43 would also be called into 

doubt. 

In Sayers, we acknowledged that chapter 43 offers employees pre-termination protections, in the form of a warning and an opportunity to improve, that are not afforded 

under section 714. For that reason, among others, we held 

in Sayers that section 714 requires the Board to review “the 

entirety of the VA’s removal decision—including the penalty—rather than merely confirming that the record contains substantial evidence that the alleged conduct leading 

to the adverse action actually occurred.” 954 F.3d at 1379. 

We did not, however, suggest that the Board’s use of the 

substantial evidence standard in either chapter 43 or section 714 proceedings was constitutionally suspect. To the 

contrary, we concluded that Board review of section 714 

penalty determinations, even under a substantial evidence 

standard, was sufficient to put to rest the petitioner’s due 

process concerns regarding section 714. Sayers, 954 F.3d 

at 1379;8 see also Brenner, 990 F.3d at 1324–25. 

8 The petitioner in Sayers raised a due process objection to the use of substantial evidence as the standard for 

reviewing DVA decisions, while also objecting to the administrative judge’s ruling that the Board lacked authority 

to review the deciding official’s penalty determination. 

Brief of Petitioner, Sayers v. Dep’t of Veterans Affs., No. 18-

2195, 2019 WL 1723794, at *2 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 12, 2019). 

The court found that permitting review of the penalty determination put to rest the constitutional concerns raised

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 25

While it is true that different procedures are used in 

the periods leading up to removal decisions under chapter 

43 and section 714, the critical point in the removal processes in both contexts is the agency’s ultimate “decision,” 

5 U.S.C. § 4303(b)(1)(D), or “determin[ation],” 38 U.S.C. 

§ 714(a)(1), that the employee’s performance or conduct is 

unacceptable. The Board reviews those conclusions for 

substantial evidence in both contexts, and we have never 

suggested that the post-termination procedures employed 

in the chapter 43 context are constitutionally suspect. Mr. 

Rodriguez has not pointed to any distinction between chapter 43 and section 714 that would justify reaching the conclusion that the Board’s use of the substantial evidence 

standard in chapter 43 proceedings is permissible, but the 

use of the same standard in section 714 proceedings is not.

In sum, while Mr. Rodriguez makes passing assertions

questioning the constitutionality of the Board’s use of the 

substantial evidence standard in section 714 proceedings, 

he does not support those assertions with any analysis or 

citation of authority. Mr. Rodriguez’s assertions, therefore, 

are not sufficiently developed, and we decline to address 

them on their merits.

2 

Mr. Rodriguez next raises a series of challenges to his 

removal that are based on the Appointments Clause of Article II of the Constitution.

1. Mr. Rodriguez first argues that this case is governed 

by Helman v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 856 F.3d 920 

(Fed. Cir. 2017), in which we held a prior version of 38 

U.S.C. § 713 unconstitutional. In that statute, Congress 

had provided that DVA Senior Executive Service 

in that case; the court did not suggest that the use of the 

substantial evidence standard of review was problematic. 

See Sayers, 954 F.3d at 1379. 

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26 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

employees could obtain review of adverse agency actions by 

administrative judges, but not thereafter by either the 

Board or a court. We held that limiting review of such 

agency actions to administrative judges violated the Appointments Clause. Helman, 856 F.3d at 929. Congress 

subsequently amended section 713 to provide for review of 

such agency actions by the Board and by this court. See

Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017, Pub. L. No. 115-41, 131 

Stat. 862. 

Unlike the version of section 713 that was struck down 

in Helman, section 714 does not restrict review by the 

Board or this court. The rationale of Helman therefore 

lends no support to Mr. Rodriguez’s Appointments Clause 

claim. See Helman, 856 F.3d at 929 (“By contrast, § 713 

prohibits any review of the administrative judge’s decision, 

thereby vesting this authority entirely in an administrative judge. . . . This is unconstitutional under the Appointments Clause.”).

Pointing to our reference in Helman to “the authority 

to render a final decision overturning another officer’s decision,” 856 F.3d at 929, Mr. Rodriguez argues that the authority to affirm or overturn a removal decision by the 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs can be granted only to officers 

of the United States, i.e., the members of the Merit Systems Protection Board. He argues that section 714 violates 

that principle by imposing a “substantial evidence” standard of review on the Board and stripping the Board of its 

authority to review agency penalty decisions, thereby making the deciding official’s decision effectively unreviewable. 

The result, he contends, is that members of the Board, who 

are principal officers of the United States, are forced “to 

rubber stamp decisions by mere employees and/or inferior 

officers that they believe are wrongly decided.” Petitioner’s 

Br. 31. 

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 27

There are four problems with that argument. First and 

foremost, Mr. Rodriguez’s argument misapprehends the 

purpose underlying the Appointments Clause. That

Clause is designed to prevent unappointed officials from 

wielding too much authority. See United States v. Arthrex, 

Inc., 141 S. Ct. 1970, 1979 (2021) (The power exercised by 

officers of the United States “acquires its legitimacy and 

accountability to the public through a clear and effective 

chain of command down from the President, on whom all 

the people vote.” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Fin. 

Oversight & Mgmt. Bd. for P.R. v. Aurelius Inv., LLC, 140 

S. Ct. 1649, 1657 (2020) (“[T]he Appointments Clause helps 

to preserve democratic accountability.”). The Clause was 

not intended to protect appointed officials from congressionally mandated changes to their statutory responsibilities (particularly in a case such as this one involving 

responsibilities that Congress conferred on the Board in 

the first place). Congress’s decision to alter the standard 

of review of adverse actions by the DVA does not violate the 

Appointments Clause unless it results in an unappointed 

official, such as the administrative judge in Helman, exercising powers that may be exercised only by officers of the 

United States.

In this case, there was no unappointed official exercising such powers. While Ms. Klinker was not appointed by 

the President and thus is not a principal officer, she exercises authority to discipline DVA employees, such as Mr. 

Rodriguez, pursuant to her delegation from the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs, as noted above. See U.S. Telecom Ass’n 

v. FCC, 359 F.3d 554, 565 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (“When a statute 

delegates authority to a federal officer or agency, subdelegation to a subordinate federal officer or agency is presumptively permissible absent affirmative evidence of a 

contrary congressional intent.”).

Deciding officials such as Ms. Klinker routinely exercise delegated authority to make disciplinary decisions in 

individual cases, regardless of their status as officers or 

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28 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

employees, without being found to have acted in violation 

of the Appointments Clause. See, e.g., Hardy v. Merit Sys. 

Prot. Bd., 13 F.3d 1571 (Fed. Cir. 1994); Hubbard v. United 

States, 225 Ct. Cl. 542, 543 (1980); Monahan v. United 

States, 354 F.2d 306 (Ct. Cl. 1966). The authority to issue 

instructions to subordinates and to discipline subordinates

for failing to follow those instructions is inherent in the role 

of any supervisor. Mr. Rodriguez cites no authority and 

makes no argument as to why the imposition of disciplinary sanctions against individual employees constitutes 

the exercise of authority that may be wielded only by a 

principal or inferior officer of the United States, and we decline to so hold.

Second, Mr. Rodriguez overstates the extent to which 

section 714 reduces the Board’s authority in reviewing disciplinary actions. As we initially stated in Sayers and reiterate today, while section 714 withdraws from the Board 

the authority to mitigate penalties by substituting penalties for those chosen by the agency, it does not prevent the 

Board from reviewing penalty decisions and requiring the 

agency to reconsider penalty decisions in appropriate 

cases.

Third, the limitations on the scope of review exercised 

by the Board do not leave deciding officials with unchecked 

authority to make disciplinary decisions. As noted above, 

the substantial evidence test has long been applied by the 

Board when reviewing decisions of agency deciding officials 

under chapter 43 of Title 5. Yet that standard of review 

has never been considered to create an Appointments 

Clause issue in those cases. 

Fourth, Mr. Rodriguez has made no showing in this 

case as to whether Ms. Klinker, the deciding official, was 

appointed by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or instead 

by some subordinate official. If she was appointed by the 

Secretary, her appointment would qualify her to serve as 

an inferior officer under the Appointments Clause. By 

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 29

statute, the director of a DVA medical center is appointed 

by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 38 U.S.C. § 7401(4). 

That is relevant because Mr. Rodriguez does not argue that 

disciplinary actions can be imposed only by principal officers of the United States, and he does not argue that Ms. 

Klinker fails to qualify as an inferior officer. 

There is therefore no record before us on which we 

could find an Appointments Clause violation in this case 

even if we were to assume that disciplinary authority may 

be exercised only by principal or inferior officers of the 

United States.

2. Citing Lucia v. SEC, 138 S. Ct. 2044 (2018), Mr. Rodriguez makes a passing reference to the question whether 

the Board’s administrative judges have been properly appointed for purposes of the Appointments Clause. Before 

the administrative judge, Mr. Rodriguez alluded to that 

question, but he did not argue that the administrative 

judge should take any action based on that claim. See J.A. 

1601 n.4. And even in this court, Mr. Rodriguez merely 

states that “if [the court] finds the Administrative Judge 

was not properly appointed,” “it must remand the case.” 

Petitioner’s Br. 32. 

But Mr. Rodriguez has not made a record that enables 

us to determine whether the authority exercised by the 

Board’s administrative judges violates the Appointments 

Clause. In particular, Mr. Rodriguez failed to offer evidence as to how the Board’s administrative judges generally, and the administrative judge in this case in 

particular, were appointed.9 Moreover, Mr. Rodriguez has 

9 Beyond that, Mr. Rodriguez has not specified 

whether his contention is that the Board’s administrative 

judges are principal officers of the United States, and thus 

required to be appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate, or are inferior officers, who may be 

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30 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

not addressed the substantial degree of supervision and 

control exercised by the Board over the assignments and 

decisions of the Board’s administrative judges,10 a factor 

the Supreme Court has regarded as important in determining whether particular responsibilities can be performed 

only by principal officers or inferior officers of the United 

States. See Arthrex, 141 S. Ct. at 1981–84; Edmond v. 

United States, 520 U.S. 651 (1997); Freytag v. Comm’r of 

Internal Revenue, 501 U.S. 868 (1991). We therefore do not 

address whether, in light of the adjudicative responsibilities of the Board’s administrative judges, the manner in 

which they were appointed fails to satisfy the Appointments Clause.11

appointed by the head of a department. In a footnote in the 

Helman case, we alluded to the Board’s process for hiring 

administrative judges at that time, but we reserved judgment as to whether the administrative judges were “employees” for purposes of the Appointments Clause. 856 

F.3d at 928 n.3. Even if the Board’s administrative judges 

are considered officers, rather than employees, the question whether they are principal officers, as opposed to inferior officers, is of critical importance in light of the 

difference in the method of appointing such officers, and 

thus the difference in the ease of correcting any constitutional flaw in their appointments.

10 See, e.g., 5 U.S.C. § 7701(a), (b)(1), (e); 5 C.F.R. 

§§ 1201.114–118. 11 The question whether the Board’s administrative 

judges are properly considered principal officers or inferior 

officers of the United States and whether they were 

properly appointed for purposes of the Appointments 

Clause is currently pending before another panel of this 

court in McIntosh v. Department of Defense, No. 19-2454

(Fed. Cir. filed Sep. 26, 2019). The McIntosh case was 

stayed pending the Supreme Court’s decision in Arthrex,

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RODRIGUEZ v. DVA 31

3. Mr. Rodriguez notes that the Board lacks a quorum 

at present. As a result, he contends, the Board’s administrative judges exercise unconstitutional authority because 

of the absence of any possibility of review of their decisions 

by the Board. The absence of a quorum, however, is a temporary circumstance, not a structural defect resulting from 

statutory limitations on Board review of administrative 

judges’ initial decisions. 

By statute, a federal employee receiving an adverse decision from an administrative judge has the choice of either 

seeking immediate judicial review of that decision, or seeking review by the Board, followed by an opportunity for judicial review. See 5 U.S.C. §§ 7701(e)(1), 7703(a)(1). Those 

two options are still open to employees and were open to 

Mr. Rodriguez, who chose to seek immediate judicial review from the administrative judge’s decision. To be sure, 

the temporary absence of a quorum means that, at present, 

if an employee seeks review by the Board, the review will 

be delayed. But the delay, while unfortunate, does not convert a constitutionally valid review process into a violation 

of the Appointments Clause. See United States v. Eaton, 

169 U.S. 331, 343 (1898) (holding that a subordinate 

“charged with the performance of the duty of the superior 

for a limited time, and under special and temporary conditions” is not “thereby transformed into the superior and 

permanent official.”). The delay caused by the absence of a 

quorum on the Board does not render the statutory adjudicative scheme constitutionally suspect any more than 

would be true in the event of a lengthy delay in the 

141 S. Ct. 1970, which was issued on June 21, 2021. The 

McIntosh case is likely to be decided before the completion 

of the remand proceedings in this case. 

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32 RODRIGUEZ v. DVA

resolution of Board appeals caused by a severe backlog in 

cases pending before the Board.12 

We reverse the decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board upholding Mr. Rodriguez’s removal, and we remand this case to the Board for further proceedings 

consistent with this opinion.

REVERSED AND REMANDED

COSTS

No costs.

12 If the absence of a quorum were to continue for a 

significant additional period with no prospect that new 

Board members would be appointed, the absence of a 

quorum might give rise to an Appointments Clause issue. 

However, two nominees for the three-person Board (a 

quorum) have now been named, and there is therefore a 

reasonable prospect that the absence of the availability of 

prompt Board review will soon be resolved—perhaps before 

this case is readjudicated on remand.

 

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