In 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reached into a single immigration case, certified it to himself, and overruled the precedent that had let domestic violence survivors qualify for asylum. In 2021, Garland certified it back. In 2025, Bondy certified it away again. Three reversals on the same doctrine in seven years — no statute changed, no rulemaking happened. One signature each time.

In this episode — the second in a three-part series on how agencies actually produce outcomes — Gwen and Marc move up a level from the hearing room and ask whether internal appellate review fixes the variation E13 documented. The textbook answer is yes: that's what review is for. The real answer is that "internal review" describes three very different machines, and none is primarily in the business of producing consistency.

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