High Court Rejects Appeal in Key Case

The U.S. Supreme Court, without explanation, has refused to hear an appeal of a ruling that federal employees holding positions designated as sensitive—and not just those involving access to classified information—do not have rights to appeal to MSPB an agency determinations of ineligibility to hold the position. MSPB initially ruled that it did have jurisdiction in such cases, on grounds that the restriction on its power of review applied only to agency decisions on access to classified information, not on suitability determinations. However, a lower court held the opposite. Its decision has been interpreted as potentially restricting the appeal rights of hundreds of thousands of employees whose positions are—or could be—classified as “non-critical sensitive” at an agency’s discretion, with eligibility to hold those positions also solely at management’s discretion.