Opinion ID: 2960205
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurisdiction Under APA

Text: 8 There is an initial dispute concerning whether Sharkey’s claim that she was granted LPR status is a factual allegation or a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation. Sharkey alleges that the immigration official who reviewed her case decided to adjust her status. This is a factual allegation, which we must assume to be true. However, Sharkey also argues that the immigration officer’s decision had the legal effect of adjusting her status within the meaning of the rescission statute and regulation. In response, the government argues that, even if we assume that the immigration officer decided to adjust Sharkey’s status, this decision was void ab initio and without legal effect because Sharkey was not eligible, as a matter of law, to have her status adjusted. We agree that Sharkey’s assertion of LPR status raises a mixed question of law and fact. We assume the truth of Sharkey’s factual allegations but we do not assume the truth of Sharkey’s legal assertion that the facts as alleged had the legal effect of “adjusting” Sharkey’s LPR status within the meaning of the rescission statute and regulation. In any event, very little turns on this distinction for purposes of this appeal. 9 The principal claims in Sharkey’s complaint are that the USCIS attempted to rescind her LPR status without following mandatory rescission procedures and that the agency unlawfully refused to furnish her with proof of LPR status. Compl. ¶¶ 6, 40, 41. She claims that she was “aggrieved” by these agency actions. Id. ¶ 3 (citing 5 U.S.C. §§ 702, 706). For relief, she seeks a ruling that the rescission was unlawful, id. Prayer for Relief ¶ 1, and an order compelling USCIS to provide her with proof of her LPR status, id. Prayer for Relief ¶ 2. The first type of relief is made available by Section 706(2) of the APA, which requires a reviewing court “to hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and conclusions found to be . . . without observance of procedure required by law.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(D). The second form of relief is made available by Section 706(1) of the APA, which requires a reviewing court to “compel agency action unlawfully withheld.” Id. § 706(1). Sharkey asserts that jurisdiction vests under the Federal Question Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1331, because her claim “arises under” the APA. Compl. ¶ 2. Under the APA, “[a] person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute, is entitled to judicial review thereof.” Darby v. Cisneros, 509 U.S. 137, 146 (1993) (quoting 5 U.S.C. § 702). “[T]he ‘right of action’ in such cases is expressly created by the [APA], which states that ‘final agency action for which there is no other adequate remedy in a court [is] subject to judicial review,’ at the behest of ‘[a] person . . . adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action.’” Japan Whaling Ass’n v. Am. Cetacean Soc., 478 U.S. 221, 229 n. 4 (1986) (quoting 5 U.S.C. §§ 702, 704). Although the APA does not itself confer subject matter jurisdiction, see Califano v. Sanders, 430 U.S. 99, 107 (1977), the Federal Question Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1331, confers 10 jurisdiction over a suit that “arises under” a “right of action” created by the APA, see Bowen v. Massachusetts, 487 U.S. 879, 891 n.16 (1988) (“[I]t is common ground that if review is proper under the APA, the District Court ha[s] jurisdiction under 28 USC § 1331.”). Because Section 1331 confers jurisdiction on the district courts, a suit that arises under the APA is properly brought in district court.