Opinion ID: 776504
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The AMAA and Producers

Text: 16 The AMAA expressly provides procedures under which handlers may challenge the provisions of a milk marketing order through administrative review. 7 U.S.C. § 608c(15)(A). Handlers aggrieved by the actions of the Secretary must first petition the Secretary for relief. The Secretary shall provide a hearing and then rule on the petition. Id. Courts have also construed the Act to grant handlers a right to judicial review after they have exhausted the administrative process. See, e.g., United States v. Ruzicka, 329 U.S. 287, 67 S.Ct. 207, 91 L.Ed. 290 (1946). The AMAA contains no provision, however, under which producers can challenge a marketing order through administrative review. 17 The Supreme Court in Stark, 321 U.S. at 303-04, 64 S.Ct. 559, addressed the rights of producers to seek judicial review of regulatory actions. The producers in Stark sought to challenge the Secretary's practice of deducting certain administrative expenses from the settlement fund before calculating the blend price, resulting in a reduced price for producers. Id. at 303, 64 S.Ct. 559. The Court held that the producers could obtain judicial review of the Secretary's actions because the AMAA had given producers definite, personal rights and the silence of Congress as to judicial review is, at any rate in the absence of an administrative remedy, not to be construed as a denial of authority to the aggrieved person to seek appropriate relief in the federal courts in the exercise of their general jurisdiction. Id. at 309, 64 S.Ct. 559. The Court concluded that because handlers could not question the use of the fund because they had no financial interest in the fund or its use, there was no forum in which the Secretary's actions regarding administration of the fund could be challenged. Therefore, judicial review of the producers' complaint was necessary to ensure achievement of the Act's most fundamental objectives — to wit, the protection of the producers of milk and milk products. Block v. Community Nutrition Inst., 467 U.S. 340, 352, 104 S.Ct. 2450, 81 L.Ed.2d 270 (1984). 18 In Community Nutrition, the Court further addressed the issue of standing. The case presented the question of whether consumers of dairy products may obtain judicial review of milk market orders. The Court held that consumers may not obtain judicial review because the AMAA did not intend to cover consumer participation. The Act contemplates a cooperative venture [only] among the Secretary, handlers, and producers. Id. at 346, 104 S.Ct. 2450. Allowing consumer participation would only disrupt the administrative scheme. Id. at 347-48, 104 S.Ct. 2450. The Court noted that unlike in Stark the preclusion of consumers will not threaten realization of the fundamental objectives of the statute, i.e., the protection of the producers of milk and milk products. Id. at 352, 104 S.Ct. 2450.