JUDICIAL REVIEW OF AGENCY ACTIONS: OVERVIEW Exam | Questions & 100% Correct Answers (Verified) | Latest Update | Grade A+

: When a party feels aggrieved by some agency action - whether an unfavorable rule, an unfavorable decision in an agency hearing, the denial or revocation of government benefits or licenses - often the last recourse is in the courts. Federal agency actions are appealed into federal courts (some into district court and some directly into a circuit court, depending on the statute), whereas state administrative problems are usually appealed first into state courts. Most judicial review will come under the Administrative Procedure Act's provisions for this, but constitutional challenges might provide a separate basis. Administrative law courses usually include a study of the body of law governing the scope of judicial review, when it is available, and what standards of review courts will use in different types of cases. ANALYZING THE AVAILABILITY OF JUDICIAL REVIEW : Treat jurisdiction, reviewability, and standing as separate issues. Jurisdiction usually depends on a statute. Reviewability also depends on statutes but requires that you check timing, finality of agency action, exhaustion of administrative remedies, and 2 | P a g e statutory preclusion of review. (Reviewability is often clear-cut and might not be an issue warranting discussion in some questions.) Standing requires a showing of actual injury, causation, and redressability, as well as the zone of interests test. The cases on standing are very inconsistent, so this is the area where you must be prepared to argue both sides. See Match-B-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Indians v. Patchak. What is the basis for federal court jurisdiction over cases involving administrative agency actions? : Two statutory sources provide the basis for federal court jurisdiction over actions by federal agencies: 1. Federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Parties who meet the APA requirements for a cause of action and constitutional rules for standing have a question arising under federal law so almost any case whose jurisdiction is not otherwise authorized by statute will come under this statute. 2. Specific statutory jurisdiction. Many enabling statutes pertaining to particular agencies include provisions giving federal courts jurisdiction for judicial review. Most give jurisdiction directly to the courts of appeals, meaning an appeal from a final agency action will go directly there. A few give jurisdiction to federal district courts, like the Social Security Act. See 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g). What federal courts have jurisdiction over claims arising from administrative agency actions? 3 | P a g e : It depends on which statute is furnishing the basis for review. Most enabling statutes pertaining to particular agencies include a provision giving jurisdiction directly to the courts of appeals, meaning an appeal from a final agency action will go directly there. See, e.g., the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 41 (c). A few give jurisdiction to federal district courts, like the Social Security Act. See 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g), meaning Social Security appeals go to the nearest federal district court after the agency has rendered its own final decision in the case. What courts have jurisd