Opinion ID: 740570
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alternative Remedies Available to Moore

Text: 24 Moore argues that in line with the 8th Circuit's approach, 5 a Bivens remedy should be judicially created because she has no other right to judicial review of the ASCS's administrative decision to terminate her. We disagree. 25 The district court correctly held that the APA provides Moore with judicial review of her termination. Final agency actions, like this one, are subject to judicial review: A person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of the relevant statute, is entitled to judicial review thereof. 5 U.S.C. § 702. 26 Section 701(a)(2) of the APA does not, as Moore contends, exempt the ASCS from judicial review because its agency action is committed to agency discretion by law. Congress has granted the Secretary the authority to promulgate regulations relating to the selection and exercise of the functions of the respective committees. 16 U.S.C. § 590(h). The regulations at issue here, governing the procedures for suspending and removing ASCS county employees, are within this general statutory authority. 7 C.F.R. §§ 7.1-7.38 (1996). 6 Moore's rights and responsibilities were also delineated in the ASCS Handbook for County Office Personnel Management. 27 The regulations provide that a county employee like Moore may be suspended and removed for cause by the county executive director or the county committee. 7 C.F.R. § 7.28(a) & (b). A suspended person must be given a written statement of the reasons for the suspension and may challenge the suspension in writing, in person, or both. 7 C.F.R. § 7.28(a). 28 There are three levels of administrative appeal rights, and Moore took advantage of all three. An ASCS employee dissatisfied with a decision of the county executive director or county committee may appeal in writing, in person, or both to the state committee. 7 C.F.R. § 7.30. They may then appeal to the ASCS Deputy Administrator, State and County Operations. Id. The employee is entitled to a hearing conducted by the Deputy Administrator or his designee, at which the employee may appear personally or through a representative. 7 C.F.R. § 7.31. At this hearing, both the employee and the agency representatives are entitled to produce and cross-examine witnesses, and the testimony is transcribed and made available to the employee at cost. Id. Witnesses are informed that the criminal false-statement provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 apply to their testimony. Id. Within 60 days of receipt of the transcript, the hearing officer must transmit to the Deputy Administrator the record of the hearing, his findings and analysis, and a recommended determination. 7 C.F.R. § 7.32. When the Deputy Administrator makes his final decision, he must set forth the basis for this determination. 7 C.F.R. § 7.33. These decisions constitute final agency action and are subject only to judicial review. 7 C.F.R. § 7.33. 29 The APA requires that a reviewing court set aside any agency action found to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, short of statutory right or contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity. 5 U.S.C. § 706. We find that a reviewing court will have sufficient law to apply to determine whether or not Moore's rights were violated. This is not one of those rare instances where 'statutes are drawn in such broad terms that in a given case there is no law to apply.'  Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 830, 105 S.Ct. 1649, 1655, 84 L.Ed.2d 714 (1981). 30 It is well established that APA review is available to other federal employees who are not governed by the CSRA. 7 See Guerrero v. Stone, 970 F.2d 626, 628 (9th Cir.1992) (APA review of decisions boards of correction of military records); Berry v. Hollander, 925 F.2d 311, 315 (9th Cir.1991) (APA review available to discharged VA physician); Garrett v. Lehman, 751 F.2d 997, 999 n. 1 (9th Cir.1985) (APA review of discharge of marine corporal). 31 Moore argues that this administrative remedy cannot bar her Bivens action because Congress has not declared that such a remedy is a substitute for recovery under the Constitution or that it views it as equally effective. Carlson, 446 U.S. at 19, 100 S.Ct. at 1471-72. Moore is correct that judicial review of her claim under the APA does not automatically preclude her Bivens claim. But she is wrong in asserting that the adequacy of the remedy determines when an administrative remedy precludes a Bivens claim. A finding of preclusion is premised only on an alternative scheme and some indication that Congress deliberately elected not to include complete relief. Chilicky, 487 U.S. at 423, 108 S.Ct. at 2467-68; Saul v. United States, 928 F.2d 829, 837 (9th Cir.1991)(holding that the CSRA precludes even those Bivens claims for which the act prescribes no alternative remedy because it found no inadvertence by Congress in omitting the remedy). 32 We have held that administrative remedies preclude a Bivens action even when that relief is incomplete. See Jones Intercable of San Diego v. Chula Vista, 80 F.3d 320, 326 (9th Cir.1996) (Bivens claim denied to cable operator who was limited to permanent injunctive relief but could not recover damages from city for past violation of his constitutional rights); Bricker, 22 F.3d at 873 (Bivens claim denied to employee at government-owned, contractor-operated nuclear facility because congressional failure to provide a damage remedy for such employees was not inadvertent and other administrative remedies were available); Berry v. Hollander, 925 F.2d 311, 315-16 (9th Cir.1991) (Although these remedies [a system of appeals for those in the Department of Medicine and Surgery, reviewable under the APA, as well as a remedy under the Federal Employees Compensation Act, 5 U.S.C. § 8101] do not guarantee full and independent compensation for constitutional violations suffered[,] ... [w]hen Congress has created a statutory remedy for potential harms, the courts must refrain from implying non-statutory causes of actions such as Bivens.); cf. Chilicky, 487 U.S. at 427-28, 108 S.Ct. at 2469-70 (where parties are restored to statutory entitlements that were unconstitutionally interrupted, the Constitution does not require additional damages remedy for the constitutional violation itself). Accordingly, we hold that Moore's statutory right to APA review of her termination by the ASCS, limited though it may be, precludes her Bivens action.IV. Conclusion 33 We AFFIRM the district court's judgment that Moore's Bivens action is precluded by her statutory right to judicial review under the APA. 8 34 AFFIRMED.