Sentence:  Petitioner was not denied due process in the administrative <WSD>proceedings</WSD> , because the statement in question was in his file , to which he had access , and he had opportunities to rebut it both before the hearing officer of the Department of Justice and before the appeal board . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked