Opinion ID: 783239
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion to Dismiss the Appointed Council's Claims

Text: 22 We first address the district court's May 22 dismissal of the Appointed Council's claims to enjoin enforcement of the Chairman's temporary closure order. To bring a claim against an agency of the Federal government, as the Appointed Council does here, there must be a waiver of sovereign immunity. The Administrative Procedures Act (APA) can provide the necessary waiver but only where a statute does not preclude judicial review. 5 U.S.C. § 702 (providing a right of review); 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(1) (stating that the APA does not apply where statutes otherwise preclude judicial review). The district court found that the IGRA precluded judicial review of the Chairman's temporary closure order and dismissed the Appointed Council's claims for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. We review de novo a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Great Plains Coop v. Commodity Futures Trading Comm'n, 205 F.3d 353, 354 (8th Cir.2000). 23 The Appointed Council argues that because the IGRA does not contain language that expressly precludes APA review of the Chairman's temporary closure order, such review must be permitted. We disagree. In Block v. Community Nutrition Institute, 467 U.S. 340, 345, 104 S.Ct. 2450, 81 L.Ed.2d 270 (1984), the Supreme Court held that the availability of APA review is not based solely on the express language of the statute. Rather: 24 The APA confers a general cause of action upon persons adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute, but withdraws that cause of action to the extent the relevant statute precludes judicial review. Whether and to what extent a particular statute precludes judicial review is determined not only from its express language, but also from the structure of the statutory scheme, its objectives, its legislative history, and the nature of the administrative action involved. 25 Id. (internal quotations and citations omitted) (emphasis added). In United States v. Fausto, 484 U.S. 439, 108 S.Ct. 668, 98 L.Ed.2d 830 (1988), the Court held: As we have made clear elsewhere, the presumption favoring judicial review is not to be applied in the `strict evidentiary sense,' but may be `overcom[e] whenever the congressional intent to preclude review is fairly discernible in the statutory scheme.' Id. at 452, 108 S.Ct. 668 (citing Block, 467 U.S. at 351, 104 S.Ct. 2450). Both Fausto and Block found congressional intent to preclude review based not on explicit language (as the Appointed Council argues we must), but based on inferences of intent drawn from the respective, relevant statutory schemes as a whole. Fausto, 484 U.S. at 452, 108 S.Ct. 668; Block, 467 U.S. at 349, 104 S.Ct. 2450. 26 Congressional intent to preclude APA review of the Chairman's temporary closure order and to permit APA review of the NIGC's subsequent final action is more than fairly discernible in the IGRA's statutory scheme. The IGRA contains a detailed enforcement and administrative review system. It allows the NIGC Chairman to order temporary closure of an IGRA-regulated game for substantial violation of the IGRA, the NIGC's regulations, or Tribal regulations, ordinances, and resolutions. 25 U.S.C. § 2713(b)(1). The Chairman's order is then subject to administrative review: 27 Not later than thirty days after the issuance by the Chairman of an order of temporary closure, the Indian tribe or management contractor involved shall have a right to a hearing before the Commission to determine whether such order should be made permanent or dissolved. Not later than sixty days following such hearing, the Commission shall, by a vote of not less than two of its members, decide whether to order a permanent closure of the gaming operation. 28 25 U.S.C. § 2713(b)(2). Following this administrative review process, the IGRA expressly provides for judicial review of the NIGC's final decision under the APA: 29 A decision of the Commission to give final approval of a fine levied by the Chairman or to order a permanent closure pursuant to this section shall be appealable to the appropriate Federal district court pursuant to chapter 7 of Title 5. 30 25 U.S.C. § 2713(c). Later, the IGRA reiterates its explicit support for APA review of final decisions from the full NIGC: 31 Decisions made by the Commission pursuant to sections 2710, 2711, 2712, and 2713 of this title shall be final agency decisions for purposes of appeal to the appropriate Federal district court pursuant to chapter 7 of Title 5. 32 25 U.S.C. § 2714 (emphasis added). 33 The APA itself precludes review of preliminary or intermediate agency action: 34 Agency action made reviewable by statute and final agency action for which there is no other adequate remedy in a court are subject to judicial review. A preliminary, procedural, or intermediate agency action or ruling not directly reviewable is subject to review on the review of the final agency action. 35 5 U.S.C. § 704. The Appointed Council argues that the temporary closure order is a final agency action subject to judicial review. We disagree. The Supreme Court utilizes a two part test to determine whether an agency action is final for purposes of the APA: First, the action must mark the consummation of the agency's decisionmaking process — it must not be of a merely tentative or interlocutory nature. And second, the action must be one by which rights or obligations have been determined, or from which legal consequences will flow. Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154, 177-78, 117 S.Ct. 1154, 137 L.Ed.2d 281 (1997) (internal quotations and citations omitted). 36 Although the Chairman's closure order is effective immediately and impacts the parties, it does so only on a temporary basis. A temporary closure order inherently is not the consummation of the agency's decisionmaking process, even though it may have an immediate effect on the Tribe's finances in the near term. The IGRA by its express terms makes the actions of the Chairman in issuing an NOV or temporary closure order preliminary and intermediate. The IGRA contains no language making a temporary closure order by the Chairman judicially reviewable. As already discussed, the detailed appeal process to the NIGC as a whole is another adequate remedy. Accordingly, the Chairman's action is not a final agency action under Bennett. 37 We previously addressed a temporary closure order from the Chairman and suggested that the Chairman's temporary closure order was not a final agency action under the APA. United States v. Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska, 135 F.3d 558, 561 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 813, 119 S.Ct. 48, 142 L.Ed.2d 37 (1998). Although Santee Sioux did not require us to squarely address whether APA review of a temporary closure order is permissible, we stated that such an order does not become final for purposes of review until after the NIGC as a whole upholds the closure order on administrative appeal: The District Court dismissed the Tribe's case ... holding that the Chairman's temporary closure order was not final agency action subject to judicial review.... [Later,] the NIGC upheld on appeal the Chairman's order of temporary closure, whereupon that order became final. Id. The Santee Sioux court accurately described the interim nature of the Chairman's temporary closure order. The Chairman's order in the present case, as in Santee Sioux, was not final. 38 The Appointed Counsel argues in the alternative that, even if administrative exhaustion generally is required under the IGRA, it was not required in this case because the exhaustion requirement exception set forth in McCarthy v. Madigan, 503 U.S. 140, 112 S.Ct. 1081, 117 L.Ed.2d 291 (1992), applies. 1 We disagree. The Court in McCarthy permitted a prisoner's constitutional tort claim to proceed against prison officials notwithstanding the prisoner's failure to exhaust his administrative remedy through the prison's grievance system. Id. at 156, 112 S.Ct. 1081. The Court first noted the need to defer to Congress regarding exhaustion of administrative remedies where Congress expressly delegates responsibility over a program to an administrative agency. Id. at 145, 112 S.Ct. 1081. The Court further noted that it is not necessary to exhaust administrative remedies in situations where `the litigant's interests in immediate judicial review outweigh the government's interests in the efficiency or administrative autonomy that the exhaustion doctrine is designed to further.' Id. at 146, 112 S.Ct. 1081 (quoting West v. Bergland, 611 F.2d 710 (8th Cir.1979)). The Court proceeded to identify three general scenarios under which the litigant's interest would outweigh the need for administrative review: where an exhaustion requirement would occasion undue prejudice to subsequent assertion of a court action; where administrative remedy may be inadequate because there is some doubt as to whether the agency was empowered to grant effective relief; and third, where the administrative body is shown to be biased or has otherwise predetermined the issue before it. Id. at 146-48, 112 S.Ct. 1081 (citations and internal quotations omitted). 39 Here, the exception of McCarthy does not apply. Not only did Congress delegate authority to the NIGC and the Chairman, Congress itself created the detailed administrative review process at issue in this case. Accordingly, deference to Congress militates against our exemption of the Appointed Council's claims from administrative exhaustion. Further, none of the three scenarios that the Court identified as excusing a failure to exhaust applies in the present case. There has been no showing of agency bias, there has been no suggestion that requiring exhaustion might preclude later judicial review, and the NIGC is clearly empowered to grant relief. 40 Finally, the Appointed Council attempts to establish jurisdiction by characterizing its challenge to the Chairman's order as a constitutional tort claim under Bivens, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619. Framing an attack on the Chairman's actions as a constitutional tort claim does not relieve the Appointed Council of the IGRA's exhaustion requirements. Sinclair v. Hawke, 314 F.3d 934 (8th Cir.2003). In Sinclair, we recently stated: 41 [w]hen Congress has created a comprehensive regulatory regime, the existence of a right to judicial review under the Administrative Procedures Act is sufficient to preclude a Bivens action. See Miller v. U.S. Dep't. of Agric. Farm Servs. Agency, 143 F.3d 1413, 1416 (11th Cir.1998); Maxey v. Kadrovach, 890 F.2d 73, 75-76 (8th Cir.1989). [P]arties may not avoid administrative review simply by fashioning their attack on an [agency] decision as a constitutional tort claim against individual [agency] officers. Zephyr Aviation, L.L.C. v. Dailey, 247 F.3d 565, 572 (5th Cir.2001). 42 Sinclair, 314 F.3d at 940 (alteration in original). Here, the IGRA provides an administrative review scheme and an express right to appeal the NIGC's action to the courts under the APA. The fact that the IGRA delays APA review until after the NIGC first reviews the actions of the Chairman does not suspend the rule of Sinclair. The Appointed Council cannot maintain a Bivens claim based on the Chairman's action in carrying out his duties. Accordingly, it was not error to dismiss the Appointed Council's Bivens action.