Opinion ID: 343208
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Judicial Review of Administrative Action

Text: 29 The first question before us is whether we have jurisdiction to review the action of the Secretary in this case. The Secretary contends on appeal that the formulation of the geographic preference in the Marketing Criteria is unreviewable agency action. He relies on the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(2), which precludes judicial review of agency action . . . committed to agency discretion by law. In short, the Secretary contends that the courts are without jurisdiction to interfere with his decision. 30 The provision upon which the Secretary relies, § 701(a)(2), states a narrow exception to judicial review applicable only in those rare instances where 'statutes are drawn in such broad terms that in a given case there is no law to apply.'  Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe,401 U.S. 402, 410, 91 S.Ct. 814, 821, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1970). If there is no law to apply, there are no issues susceptible of judicial resolution, and accordingly the courts are denied jurisdiction over the matter. See K. Davis, Administrative Law Text § 28.05, at 515-16 (3d ed. 1972). In deciding whether agency action is committed to agency discretion by law, it is not significant that there may be law, in the abstract, that could possibly be applied. Strickland v. Morton, 519 F.2d 467, 470 & n.4 (9th Cir. 1975). Instead, we must determine whether in this particular case there is any specific law to apply. Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, supra, 401 U.S. at 410, 91 S.Ct. 814. As we stated in Strickland v. Morton, supra, 519 F.2d at 470, another case examining the scope of § 701(a)(2): 31 When a court is asked to review agency action in instances where considerable discretion is committed by statute to an official, the court lacks jurisdiction due to the provisions of § 701(a)(2) only when the agency action of which plaintiff complains fails to raise a legal issue which can be reviewed by the court by reference to statutory standards and legislative intent. Where a statute grants broad discretion to an administrative official, absent some action clearly contradictory to a statutory provision or legislative intent . . . a plaintiff challenging an exercise of that discretion may find it an all but insurmountable task to be able to bring his case within this standard, but unless he does so § 701(1)(2) deprives the courts of jurisdiction to entertain his case. 32 (emphasis in original, citations omitted). See also Ness Investment Corp. v. United States Department of Agriculture, 512 F.2d 706, 714-15 (9th Cir. 1975); Bronken v. Morton, 473 F.2d 790, 794, 797 (9th Cir. 1973); Ferry v. Udall, 336 F.2d 706, 712 (9th Cir. 1964), cert. denied, 381 U.S. 904, 85 S.Ct. 1449, 14 L.Ed.2d 286 (1965). 33 Thus, the issue before us is whether Congress has provided a legal standard that we may apply in reviewing the Secretary's formulation of the geographic preference in the Marketing Criteria. If Congress has not provided such a standard but has rather granted broad discretion to the Secretary, the Secretary's action, unless clearly contradictory to a statutory provision or legislative intent, is not reviewable by us.