Opinion ID: 2960205
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: B Threshold Limitations on APA Causes of Action

Text: Although there is a strong presumption in favor of judicial review of agency action, there are threshold limitations on the scope of APA review: (a) review under the APA is limited to review of “final agency action,” 5 U.S.C. § 704, see Air Espana v. Brien, 165 F.3d 148, 151-154 (2d. Cir. 1999); (b) final agency action is not subject to judicial review under the APA to the extent that such action is “committed to agency discretion by law,” 5 U.S.C. 701(a)(2), see Lunney v. United States, 319 F.3d 550, 558 (2d Cir. 2003); and (c) the strong presumption of judicial review can be overcome if Congress, subject to constitutional constraints, implicitly or 16 explicitly precludes judicial review, see Bowen, 476 U.S. at 673; 5 U.S.C. 701(a)(1). We have suggested that each of these threshold limitations delimits the subject matter jurisdiction of federal courts. See, e.g., Air Espana, 165 F.3d at 152 (“The APA . . . requirement of finality is jurisdictional.”); Riverkeeper, Inc. v. EPA, 475 F.3d 83, 130 (2d Cir. 2007) (accord); Lunney, 319 F.3d at 558 (holding that “there is no jurisdiction” if the challenged action is committed to agency discretion). It is uncertain in light of recent Supreme Court precedent whether these threshold limitations are truly jurisdictional or are rather essential elements of the APA claims for relief.10 That question takes on significance in this case because the parties and the district court have raised some of these threshold limitations, but not all of them. To the extent the threshold limitations are jurisdictional, we are required to raise them sua sponte; to the extent the threshold limitations are elements of the APA claims for relief going to the merits, the 10 Recently, the Supreme Court appeared to introduce a bright-line rule for determining whether a “threshold limitation on a statute’s scope” is jurisdictional or “an element of [a] claim for relief,” Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 514-15 (2006); see id. at 515-16 (“If the Legislature clearly states that a threshold limitation on a statute’s scope shall count as jurisdictional, then courts and litigants will be duly instructed and will not be left to wrestle with the issue. . . . But when Congress does not rank a statutory limitation on coverage as jurisdictional, courts should treat the restriction as non-jurisdictional in character.”). Relying on this bright-line rule in Arbaugh, the D.C. Circuit, abrogating prior decisions from that circuit, held that the Section 704 requirement of “final agency action” is not jurisdictional. See Trudeau v. FTC, 456 F.3d 178, 183-84 & nn. 6-7 (D.C. Cir. 2006). Other Circuits, in response to Arbaugh, have raised, but declined to answer, this question; and others have reaffirmed their prior holdings that the final agency action requirement is not jurisdictional. See Long Term Care Partners, LLC v. United States, 516 F.3d 225, 231-32 (4th Cir. 2008) (declining to decide issue, but noting that “the continued validity” of cases holding that the final agency action requirement is jurisdictional “has been called into question somewhat by Arbaugh”); Nulankeyutmonen Nkihtaqmikon v. Impson, 503 F.3d 18, 33 (1st Cir. 2007) (reaffirming the court’s pre-Arbaugh determination that the APA’s finality requirement is not jurisdictional); see also Thomas v. Miller, 489 F.3d 293, 298 (6th Cir. 2007) (explaining that Arbaugh “effectively overruled” cases that failed to apply a bright-line clear statement rule for jurisdiction”); Long Term Care Partners, 516 F.3d at 239 (Williams, C.J., concurring) (arguing that Arbaugh has overruled prior holdings of Fourth Circuit that final agency action requirement is jurisdictional). 17 opposing party’s failure to raise the issue waives the objection. See Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 514 (2006) (“[S]ubject-matter jurisdiction, because it involves the court's power to hear a case, can never be forfeited or waived. Moreover, courts . . . have an independent obligation to determine whether subject-matter jurisdiction exists, even in the absence of a challenge from any party.” (internal quotation marks and citations omitted)); Da Silva v. Kinsho Int’l Corp., 229 F.3d 358, 361 (2d Cir. 2000). However, because we find that Sharkey has satisfied each of these threshold requirements of an APA action, we need not reach the difficult question of whether these threshold requirements hold the “keys to the kingdom of subject-matter jurisdiction,” Eberhart v. United States, 546 U.S. 12, 17 (2005).11