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529US1

Unit: $U32

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10

SHALALA v. ILLINOIS COUNCIL ON LONG
TERM CARE, INC.
Opinion of the Court

506 U. S. 1049 (1993). We granted certiorari to resolve
those differences.

II

Section 405(h) purports to make exclusive the judicial
Its second sentence
review method set forth in § 405(g).
says that “[n]o ﬁndings of fact or decision of the [Secretary]
shall be reviewed by any person, tribunal, or governmental
agency except as herein provided.” § 405(h).
Its third sen-
tence, directly at issue here, says that “[n]o action against
the United States, the [Secretary], or any ofﬁcer or employee
thereof shall be brought under section 1331 or 1346 of title
28 to recover on any claim arising under this subchapter.”
(Emphasis added.)

The scope of the italicized language “to recover on any
claim arising under” the Social Security (or, as incorporated
through § 1395ii, the Medicare) Act is, if read alone, uncer-
tain. Those words clearly apply in a typical Social Security
or Medicare beneﬁts case, where an individual seeks a mone-
tary beneﬁt from the agency (say, a disability payment, or
payment for some medical procedure), the agency denies the
beneﬁt, and the individual challenges the lawfulness of that
denial. The statute plainly bars § 1331 review in such a
case, irrespective of whether the individual challenges the
agency’s denial on evidentiary, rule-related, statutory, consti-
tutional, or other legal grounds. But does the statute’s bar
apply when one who might later seek money or some other
beneﬁt from (or contest the imposition of a penalty by) the
agency challenges in advance (in a § 1331 action) the lawful-
ness of a policy, regulation, or statute that might later bar
recovery of that beneﬁt (or authorize the imposition of the
penalty)? Suppose, as here, a group of such individuals,
needing advance knowledge for planning purposes, together
bring a § 1331 action challenging such a rule or regulation
on general legal grounds.
Is such an action one “to recover
on any claim arising under” the Social Security or Medicare
Acts? That, in effect, is the question before us.