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Page Number: 42

14 

CORNER POST, INC. v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS, FRS 

KAVANAUGH, J., concurring 

Power To Vacate a Rule, 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1121, 1131– 
1134  (2020).  The  text  of  the  APA  therefore  authorizes 
vacatur of agency rules.  By contrast, Congress has rarely
authorized  courts  to  act  directly  on  federal  statutes  or  to 
prohibit their enforcement against nonparties.  As a result, 
background equitable principles may control in those non-
APA cases. 

Second,  the  Government  argues  that  the  remedies 
available in APA suits are not governed by §706(2), which
directs courts to “set aside” agency action, but instead are 
governed  by  §703.  That  argument  is  weak.    Section  703 
determines the “form of proceeding” for suits under the APA 
and  identifies  the  federal  actors  against  whom  an  “action
for judicial review may be brought.”7  But “no court has ever 
held  that  Section  703  implicitly  delimits  the  kinds  of 
remedies available in an APA suit.”  M. Sohoni, The Past 
and Future of Universal Vacatur, 133 Yale L. J. 2305, 2337 
(2024).  For good reason:  As explained above, the ordinary
meaning of “set aside” in §706(2) has long been understood 
to refer to the remedy of vacatur.  The conclusion that §706 
governs  remedies  is  also  supported  by  §706(1),  which
authorizes  courts  to  “compel  agency  action  unlawfully
withheld  or  unreasonably  delayed”—unmistakably  a 
remedy.  By contrast, the text of §703 “speaks to venue and 
forms  of  proceedings,  not  to  remedies,  and  regardless,  its 

—————— 

7 Section 703 states:  “The form of proceeding for judicial review is the 
special statutory review proceeding relevant to the subject matter in a 
court specified by statute or, in the absence or inadequacy thereof, any
applicable  form  of  legal  action,  including  actions  for  declaratory 
judgments  or  writs  of  prohibitory  or  mandatory  injunction  or  habeas 
corpus, in a court of competent jurisdiction.  If no special statutory review
proceeding is applicable, the action for judicial review may be brought 
against  the  United  States,  the  agency  by  its  official  title,  or  the 
appropriate  officer.    Except  to  the  extent  that  prior,  adequate,  and 
exclusive  opportunity  for  judicial  review  is  provided  by  law,  agency 
action  is  subject  to  judicial  review  in  civil  or  criminal  proceedings  for 
judicial enforcement.”