Opinion ID: 558050
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sovereign Immunity Waivers

Text: 23 Our holding is also necessarily influenced by the Supreme Court's pronouncement that statutes waiving the government's general immunity from attorneys' fee claims must be construed strictly in favor of the sovereign and not enlarge[d] ... beyond what the language requires. Ruckelshaus v. Sierra Club, 463 U.S. 680, 685-86, 103 S.Ct. 3274, 3278, 77 L.Ed.2d 938 (1983) (quoting McMahon v. United States, 342 U.S. 25, 27, 72 S.Ct. 17, 19, 96 L.Ed. 26 (1951), and Eastern Transp. Co. v. United States, 272 U.S. 675, 686, 47 S.Ct. 289, 291, 71 L.Ed. 472 (1927)). Because deportation proceedings are not clearly within the scope of the EAJA, we believe that it is incumbent upon Congress, not this court, to enlarge the statute to include such proceedings if that is the result that Congress intended.