Opinion of the Court
alters the normal operation of our adversarial system.” Id., at 434. “For purposes of efficiency and fairness, our legal system is replete with rules” like forfeiture, which require parties to raise arguments themselves and to do so at certain times. Ibid. Jurisdictional bars, however, “may be raised at any time” and courts have a duty to consider them sua sponte. Ibid. When such eleventh-hour jurisdictional objections prevail post-trial or on appeal, “many months of work on the part of the attorneys and the court may be wasted.” Id., at 435. Similarly, doctrines like waiver and estoppel ensure efficiency and fairness by precluding parties from raising arguments they had previously disavowed. Because these doctrines do not apply to jurisdictional objections, parties can disclaim such an objection, only to resurrect it when things go poorly for them on the merits. Ibid.
Given this risk of disruption and waste that accompanies the jurisdictional label, courts will not lightly apply it to procedures Congress enacted to keep things running smoothly and efficiently. Courts will also not assume that in creating a mundane claims-processing rule, Congress made it “unique in our adversarial system” by allowing parties to raise it at any time and requiring courts to consider it sua sponte. Sebelius v. Auburn Regional Medical Center, 568 U. S. 145, 153 (2013). Instead, “traditional tools of statutory construction must plainly show that Congress imbued a procedural bar with jurisdictional consequences.” United States v. Kwai Fun Wong, 575 U. S. 402, 410 (2015).
Under this clear statement rule, the analysis of §2409a(g) is straightforward.[1] “[I]n applying th[e] clear statement
- ↑ The dissent maintains that this Court’s settled clear statement rule does not apply here because §2409a(g) is a condition on a waiver of sovereign immunity and “as such, this Court should interpret it as a jurisdictional bar to suit.” Post, at 2 (opinion of Thomas, J.). Over three decades ago, this Court in “Irwin … foreclose[d] th[e] argument” that “time limits” are jurisdictional simply because they “function as conditions on
