Thomas, J., dissenting
pears to be a categorical rule that all motions to reopen that would be untimely under § 1229a(c)(7)(A) must be construed as motions for sua sponte reopening of the proceedings. See Reyes Mata v. Holder, 558 Fed. Appx. 366, 367 (CA5 2014) (per curiam) (“In this circuit, an alien's request for equitable tolling on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel is construed as an invitation for the BIA to exercise its discretion to reopen the removal proceeding sua sponte”). That rule would appear to foreclose a litigant from ever filing an untimely statutory motion to reopen removal proceedings seeking equitable tolling, as well as to invite improper recharacterization in the event any such a motion is filed. The Court of Appeals should have assessed Mata's motion on its own terms. It erred in not doing so.
The reason it erred, though, has nothing to do with its fidelity to our precedents discussing “the judicial obligation to exercise jurisdiction,” ante, at 151. That obligation does not allow evasion of constitutional and statutory jurisdictional prerequisites. It is true that “when a federal court has jurisdiction, it also has a `virtually unflagging obligation to . . . exercise' that authority.” Ante, at 150 (quoting Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U. S. 800, 817 (1976)). But that “unflagging obligation” arises only if a court actually has jurisdiction. Federal courts have no obligation to seek out jurisdiction, nor should they misconstrue flings to satisfy jurisdictional requirements. Rather, federal courts should “presume that [they] lack jurisdiction unless the contrary appears affirmatively from the record.” See DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno, 547 U. S. 332, 342, n. 3 (2006). And they should apply the ordinary rule that the party asserting federal jurisdiction bears the burden of proving that jurisdictional prerequisites are met. Ibid. The practice of construing filings does not alter the usual rules of establishing jurisdiction in federal court.
I would vacate and remand for the Court of Appeals to consider the BIA's judgment without the burden of what ap-
