Arturo S. Lopez v. Department of the Air Force

N OTE: This order is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
ARTURO S. LOPEZ,
Petitioner
v.
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE,
Respondent
______________________
2024-2029
______________________
Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection
Board in No. DA-0752-18-0107-I-1.
______________________
ON MOTION
______________________
Before REYNA, L INN, and STOLL , Circuit Judges.
P ER CURIAM .
O R D E R
Arturo S. Lopez petitions this court to review the final
decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board affirming
his removal and rejecting his affirmative defense of retali-
ation for prior equal employment opportunity activity al-
leging discrimination based on national origin.
Responding to this court’s show cause order, Mr. Lopez
Case: 24-2029 Document: 10 Page: 1 Filed: 11/18/2024

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LOPEZ v. AIR FORCE 2
moves unopposed to transfer to the United States District
Court for the Western District of Texas, ECF No. 8.
Because the district court is the appropriate forum for
judicial review of Board decisions involving agency actions
appealable to the Board and alleged to be based on certain
types of discrimination as well as retaliation, 5 U.S.C.
§ 7703(b)(2); Perry v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 582 U.S. 420
(2017); Diggs v. Dep’t of Hous. & Urb. Dev., 670 F.3d 1353,
1357 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (holding that the affirmative defense
of retaliation for prior EEO activity “falls outside [of the
court’s] jurisdictional reach”), we transfer to the Western
District of Texas. See 28 U.S.C. § 1631.
Accordingly,
I T I S O RDERED T HAT :
The motion is granted. The matter and all case filings
are transferred to the United States District Court for the
Western District of Texas pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631.
November 18, 2024
Date
F OR THE COURT
Case: 24-2029 Document: 10 Page: 2 Filed: 11/18/2024

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