Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-86_l5gm.pdf
Page Number: 36

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

3 

GORSUCH, J., concurring in judgment 

That’s where the magic happens.  The Thunder Basin fac-
tors  require  assessing  whether:    (1)  “precluding  district 
court jurisdiction” would “foreclose all meaningful judicial 
review”; (2) the plaintiff ’s claims are “wholly collateral” to 
the statutory review scheme; and (3) the claims are “outside 
the  agency’s  expertise.”    Ante,  at 8  (internal  quotation 
marks omitted); see generally 510 U. S., at 207–215.  Har-
nessing the energy of these various factors, we are assured, 
will allow anyone to detect a latent congressional intent to 
oust district courts of their jurisdiction in any given case. 
See ante, at 8–10. 

Just see how easy it is.  To apply the first factor, all you 
have  to  do  is  ask  a  few  more  questions.   They  include 
whether  the  plaintiff  could  “eventually”  obtain  review  in 
some  federal  court;  whether  that  court’s  review  “would 
come  too  late  to  be  meaningful”;  and  (maybe)  how  analo-
gous the plaintiff ’s plea for immediate review is to a gov-
ernmental  official’s  plea  for  qualified  immunity.  Ante, 
at 12–14.  If this is starting to seem more confounding than 
clarifying,  do  not  worry.
  The  first  factor  is  the  “least 
straightforward”  anyway.  Ante,  at 11.  When it  comes  to 
the second factor, you only need to evaluate the “collateral-
ism” of the plaintiff ’s claim.  Ante, at 14.  Apparently, that 
“requires considering the nature of the claim, not the status 
(pending or not) of an agency proceeding.”  Ante, at 16.  The 
third  factor  is  just  one  easy  question  too,  focused  on 
whether the plaintiff ’s claim is “intertwined with or embed-
ded in matters on which the [agency is] expert.”  Ante, at 17. 
If that does not help, try asking if the claim is “entangled” 
with the agency’s expertise, ibid., or if the agency can bring 
to bear “distinctive knowledge,” ante, at 8. 

Even after you make it through these twists and turns, a 
final surprise sometimes awaits.  The Court holds that all 
three Thunder Basin factors favor Ms. Cochran and Axon, 
so their cases may proceed in district court.  Ante, at 17–18.