Thomas, J., dissenting
already effectively allowed for equitable tolling.” Id., at 48 (citing Irwin, 498 U. S., at 96). “Given this fact, and the unusually generous nature of the [Act]’s limitations time period,” the Court concluded that “extension of the statutory period by additional equitable tolling would be unwarranted.” 524 U. S., at 48–49. Thus, while Beggerly might be read to view the Act’s time bar as potentially susceptible to tolling (and thus, by inference, nonjurisdictional), the Court did not hold that the bar actually could be tolled. Rather, the Court held the opposite. Beggerly is therefore, at best, ambiguous with respect to the jurisdictional nature of the time bar. As such, it does not overcome the Court’s clear prior view set out in both Block and Mottaz.
For the majority, the Court’s statements in Block and Mottaz are not “definitiv[e]” enough to satisfy John R. Sand. Ante, at 11. But, the import of the Court’s references to “jurisdiction” in Block and Mottaz would have been clear at the time. A court in the 1980s discussing a provision of a statute as a waiver of sovereign immunity, citing Sherwood (and, later, Block), invoked a well-known set of ideas that readers at the time unmistakably associated with the concept of jurisdiction. In fact, the Court in Dalm cited Block and Mottaz—and no other cases—for the proposition that conditions on waivers of sovereign immunity “define th[e] court’s jurisdiction to entertain the suit.” 494 U. S., at 608 (emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted). The Court’s precedents must be understood in that context. *** The Quiet Title Act’s statute of limitations functions as a condition on a waiver of sovereign immunity, and is therefore jurisdictional. This Court has repeatedly characterized the Act’s time bar as jurisdictional, and that interpretation remains authoritative under John R. Sand. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
