Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/22-58_i425.pdf
Page Number: 34.0

Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

17 

 GORSUCH, J., concurring
GORSUCH, J., concurring in judgment 

least arguably trace their authority to order vacatur to lan-
guage in a statute and practice in some lower courts.  But 
the questions here are serious ones.  And given the volume
of litigation under the APA, this Court will have to address 
them sooner or later.  Until then, we would greatly benefit 
from the considered views of our lower court colleagues. 

D 
Suppose my doubts about vacatur are unfounded.  Sup-
pose the APA really does authorize both traditional forms 
of equitable relief (in §703) and a more expansive equitable 
power to vacate agency action (in §706).  Even if that were 
true,  a  district  court  should  “think  twice—and  perhaps 
twice  again—before  granting”  such  sweeping  relief.    Ari-
zona v. Biden, 40 F. 4th, at 396 (Sutton, C. J., concurring). 
After all, this Court has long instructed that equitable re-
lief “must be limited to the inadequacy that produced [the] 
injury in fact.”  Gill v. Whitford, 585 U. S. ___, ___ (2018) 
(slip  op.,  at  14)  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted).    Any 
remedy a judge authorizes must not be ‘‘more burdensome 
[to the defendant] than necessary to redress the complain-
ing  parties.’’  Califano  v.  Yamasaki,  442  U. S.  682,  702 
(1979).  And faithful application of those principles suggests
that an extraordinary remedy like vacatur would demand 
truly extraordinary circumstances to justify it.  Cf. S. Bray
&  P.  Miller,  Getting  Into  Equity,  97  N. D.  L. Rev.  1763, 
1797  (2022)  (“[I]n  equity  it  all  connects—the  broader  and 
deeper  the  remedy  the  plaintiff  wants,  the  stronger  the
plaintiff ’s story needs to be.”).

The temptations a single district judge may face when in-
vited to vacate agency rules are obvious.  Often, plaintiffs
argue that everyone deserves to benefit from their effort to 
litigate the case and the court’s effort to decide it.  Judges
may think efficiency and uniformity favor the broadest pos-
sible relief.  But there are serious countervailing consider-
ations.  As with universal injunctions, vacatur can stymie