Thomas, J., dissenting
I
This Court’s skepticism of the jurisdictional character of procedural bars does not extend to conditions on a waiver of sovereign immunity. In the context of a waiver of sovereign immunity, the Court presumes that procedural limitations are jurisdictional. The Act’s time bar is one such provision, and, as such, this Court should interpret it as a jurisdictional bar to suit.
As a sovereign, the United States “is immune from suit save as it consents to be sued, … and the terms of its consent to be sued in any court define that court’s jurisdiction to entertain the suit.” United States v. Sherwood, 312 U. S. 584, 586 (1941); see also Lehman v. Nakshian, 453 U. S. 156, 160 (1981); United States v. Mitchell, 463 U. S. 206, 212 (1983) (describing this principle as “axiomatic”). Consequently, “[s]overeign immunity is by nature jurisdictional.” Henderson v. United States, 517 U. S. 654, 675 (1996) (Thomas, J., dissenting). This principle is longstanding, and the majority does not dispute it. See ante, at 7–8.
“A necessary corollary of this rule,” however, “is that when Congress attaches conditions to legislation waiving the sovereign immunity of the United States, those conditions must be strictly observed, and exceptions thereto are not to be lightly implied.” Block v. North Dakota ex rel. Board of Univ. and School Lands, 461 U. S. 273, 287 (1983); see also United States v. Nordic Village, Inc., 503 U. S. 30, 34 (1992) (stating that a waiver of sovereign immunity “must be construed strictly in favor of the sovereign” and “not enlarge[d] … beyond what the language requires” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Thus, “in many cases this Court has read procedural rules embodied in statutes waiving immunity strictly, with an eye to effectuating a restrictive legislative purpose when Congress relinquishes sovereign immunity.” Honda v. Clark, 386 U. S. 484, 501 (1967). In United States v. Dalm, 494 U. S. 596 (1990), the
