Kenneth B. Mason v. Eric K. Shinseki

KASOLD,

Chief Judge, dissenting:

Until recently,7 Congress restricted the right of a veteran to retain paid counsel for representation before the Secretary or the Board until after the Board issued its “first ... final [Board] decision,” and then only if the veteran retained paid counsel within one year of that final decision. 38 U.S.C. § 5904(c)(1) (1998). This statutory constraint on a veteran’s right to retain paid counsel should not be read broadly. Cf. Brown v. Gardner, 513 U.S. 115, 117-18, 115 S.Ct. 552, 130 L.Ed.2d 462 (1994) (noting that interpretative doubt is to be resolved in the…