Newly released Board of Veterans’ Appeals records are raising questions about how the Board decides which veterans’ appeals to address first.
The VA provided the records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by veterans advocate Wesley McCauley. The records cover appeals that were pending as of July 9, 2026, and decisions issued from January 2020 through July 9, 2026. They exclude appeals advanced on the docket and appeals returned from the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
In his analysis of the data, McCauley reports that many older appeals remained pending while newer appeals in the same docket had already been decided. He argues that the findings warrant an explanation from the Board about how it determines the order in which appeals are handled.
McCauley and United Veteran’s Disability, LLC filed a lawsuit seeking the records in August. McCauley says he dismissed that suit after the VA released the data. The questions raised by the records are also relevant to the separate, ongoing Cartwright v. Collins case, in which a request for class certification is pending.
Veterans deserve a fair and transparent appeals process. Military-Veterans Advocacy will continue to follow this issue and share developments as they become available.