Timing of, and Eligibility for, Judicial Review

Even assuming an agency has taken some action (or inaction) that is within the scope of review and that judicial review is not precluded, that does not mean just anybody can walk into court and challenge that action. Judicial review of agency action is also governed by a web of rules about the timing of, and eligibility for, review. In this casebook, we examine three of these limits: 1) the closely related ripeness and finality requirements, 2) the requirement of exhaustion of administrative remedies and "channeling" of claims through administrative adjudication processes, and 3) the complex law of standing, both statutory and constitutional.

A word of warning: it is easy to get lost in the byzantine rules that courts have developed in these areas. As much as possible, I have tried to lay out the test that governs with a high degree of clarity before presenting the cases. I am comfortable just giving you the black letter law here because, while most agree about these basic rules, the real challenge is applying them. As you study the materials for this subsection, focus as much on assessing the application of these relatively straightforward rules as on the rules themselves. Good administrative lawyers learn to argue the application rather than arguing about the rules themselves.