Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-86_l5gm.pdf
Page Number: 46.0

Cite as:  598 U. S. ____ (2023) 

13 

GORSUCH, J., concurring in judgment 

No.  21–86,  p.  18  (suggesting  the  FTC  has  won  more  like 
90% of the time). 

That  review  is  available  in  a  court  of  appeals  after  an 
agency  completes  its  work  hardly  makes  up  for  a  day  in 
court before an agency says it’s done.  When a case eventu-
ally makes its way to an appellate court, judges sometimes 
defer to the agency’s conclusions (especially when it comes 
to  disputed  questions  of  fact).  And  how many people can 
afford to carry a case that far anyway?  Ms. Cochran’s ad-
ministrative proceedings have already dragged on for seven 
years.  Thanks in part to these realities, the bulk of agency 
cases  settle.    See  Tilton  v.  SEC,  824  F.  3d  276,  298,  n.  5 
(CA2 2016) (Droney, J., dissenting) (“vast majority” of SEC 
cases  settle);  Tr.  of  Oral  Arg.  in  No.  21–1239,  p. 6  (“more 
than 90 percent” of such cases settle).  Aware, too, that few 
can  outlast  or  outspend  the  federal  government,  agencies 
sometimes use this as leverage to extract settlement terms 
they  could  not  lawfully  obtain  any  other  way.4  Like  any 
needlessly  unclear  jurisdictional  test,  Thunder  Basin  car-
ries with it real costs—for individuals seeking to vindicate 
their rights, for lower courts who deserve better guidance, 
and  for  our  legal  system’s  promise  of  a “just, speedy,  and 
inexpensive  determination  of  every”  case,  Fed.  Rule  Civ. 
Proc. 1. 

* 

When Congress withholds jurisdiction, we must respect 
its  choice.  But  when  Congress  grants  jurisdiction  to  the 
Nation’s courts, we must respect that choice too.  We have 
no authority to froth plain statutory text with factors of our 
—————— 

4 See P. Hamburger, Purchasing Submission: Conditions, Power, and 
Freedom 223 (2021) (describing this as “regulatory extortion”); D. Gins-
burg & J. Wright, Antitrust Settlement:  The Culture of Consent, in 1 W. 
Kovacic:  An Antitrust Tribute 177 (N. Charbit et al. eds. 2013) (“Consent 
decrees create potential for an enforcement agency to extract from par-
ties under investigation commitments well beyond what the agency could 
obtain in litigation”).