Federal agencies take many different actions, such as adopting rules and issuing orders in the adjudication of cases. In many cases, a person who objects to an agency action can ask a federal court to review it. Many statutes, including the Administrative Procedure Act, provide the legal framework for when and how courts review agency actions.
ACUS has adopted dozens of recommendations and produced many other resources to help the federal government manage judicial review of agency action. Helpful resources include the Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, which includes a chapter on judicial review, and the book-length Sourcebook of Federal Judicial Review Statutes, which comprehensively surveys more than 650 statutory provisions that govern how federal courts review agency rules and orders.
Select a category below to access individual recommendations, reports, and other resources:
Assembly Recommendations
- Recommendation 2013-4, Administrative Record in Informal Rulemaking
Publications and Reports
- Leland E. Beck, Agency Practices and Judicial Review of Administrative Records in Informal Rulemaking (May 14, 2013)
Information Interchange Bulletins
- IIB-009, Recordkeeping in Informal Rulemaking
Working Groups
Assembly Recommendations
- Recommendation 92-5, Streamlining Attorney’s Fee Litigation Under the Equal Access to Justice Act
Publications and Reports
Assembly Recommendations
- Recommendation 2019-1, Agency Guidance Through Interpretive Rules
- Recommendation 2017-5, Agency Guidance Through Policy Statements
Publications and Reports
- Blake Emerson & Ronald M. Levin, Agency Guidance Through Interpretive Rules: Research and Analysis (May 28, 2019)
- Nicholas R. Parrillo, Federal Agency Guidance: An Institutional Perspective (Oct. 12, 2017)
News Releases and Blog Posts
- Blake Emerson & Ronald M. Levin, Interpretive Rules in Practice (Nov. 1, 2019) (originally published on The Regulatory Review)
- Nicholas Parrillo, Understanding and Addressing Controversies About Agency Guidance (Mar. 5, 2018) (originally published on The Regulatory Review)
Assembly Recommendations
- Recommendation 2019-1, Agency Guidance Through Interpretive Rules
- Recommendation 89-5, Achieving Judicial Acceptance of Agency Statutory Interpretations
- Recommendation 81-2, Current Versions of the Bumpers Amendment
- Recommendation 79-6, Elimination of the Presumption of Validity of Agency Rules and Regulations in Judicial Review, as Exemplified by the Bumpers Amendment
Publications and Reports
- Robert A. Anthony, Which Agency Interpretations Should Bind Citizens and the Courts?, 7 Yale J. on Reg. 1 (1990)
- Ronald M. Levin, Review of “Jurisdictional” Issues Under the Bumpers Amendment, 1983 Duke L.J. 355 (1983)
- Ronald M. Levin, Judicial Review and the Bumpers Amendment (1979)
Assembly Recommendations
- Recommendation 2021-5, Clarifying Statutory Access to Judicial Review of Agency Action
- Recommendation 2012-6, Reform of 28 U.S.C. Section 1500
- Recommendation 82-3, Federal Venue Provisions Applicable to Suits Against the Government
- Recommendation 80-5, Eliminating or Simplifying the “Race to the Courthouse” in Appeals from Agency Action
- Recommendation 76-4, Judicial Review Under the Clean Air Act and Federal Water Pollution Control Act
- Recommendation 75-3, The Choice of Forum for Judicial Review of Administrative Action
Publications and Reports
- Jonathan R. Siegel, Sourcebook of Federal Judicial Review Statutes (2022)
- Emily Schleicher Bremer & Jonathan R. Siegel, Clearing the Path to Justice: The Need to Reform 28 U.S.C. § 1500 (Sep. 19, 2012)
- Sen. Paul Laxalt, Linden H. Kettlewell, Nicholas C. Yost & David P. Currie, Venue at the Crossroads, Nat’l Legal Ctr. for the Pub. Interest (Feb. 1982)
- Thomas O. McGarity, Multi-Party Forum Shopping for Appellate Review of Administrative Action, 129 U. Pa. L. Rev. 302 (1980)
- David P. Currie, Judicial Review Under Federal Pollution Laws, 62 Iowa L. Rev. 1221 (1977)
- David P. Currie & Frank I. Goodman, Judicial Review of Federal Administrative Action: Quest for the Optimum Forum, 75 Colum. L. Rev. 1 (1975)
Assembly Recommendations
- Statement #19: Issue Exhaustion in Pre-Enforcement Judicial Review of Administrative Rulemaking (2015)
Publications and Reports
- Jeffrey S. Lubbers, Fail to Comment at Your Own Risk: Does Issue Exhaustion Have a Place in Judicial Review of Rules? (May 5, 2015)
Assembly Recommendations
- Recommendation 2021-5, Clarifying Statutory Access to Judicial Review of Agency Action
- Recommendation 91-9, Specialized Review of Administrative Action
- Recommendation 88-6, Judicial Review of Preliminary Challenges to Agency Action
- Recommendation 82-6, Federal Officials’ Liability for Constitutional Violations
- Recommendation 78-3, Time Limits on Agency Actions
- Recommendation 70-1, Parties Defendant
- Recommendation 69-1, Statutory Reform of the Sovereign Immunity Doctrine
- Recommendation 68-7, Elimination of Jurisdictional Amount Requirement in Judicial Review
Publications and Reports
- Jonathan R. Siegel, Sourcebook of Federal Judicial Review Statutes (2022)
- Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, Judicial Review of Agency Action
- Harold H. Bruff, Specialized Courts in Administrative Law, 43 Admin. L. Rev. 329 (1991)
- Thomas O. Sargentich, The Jurisdiction of Federal Courts in Administrative Cases: Developments, 41 Admin. L. Rev. 201 (1989)
- Thomas J. Madden & Nicholas W. Allard, Advice on Official Liability and Immunity (1982)
- Edward A. Tomlinson, Report on the Experience of Various Agencies with Statutory Time Limits Applicable to Licensing or Clearance Functions and to Rulemaking (1978)
- Roger C. Cramton, Report of the Committee on Judicial Review in Support of Recommendation No. 18 (Parties Defendant) (1970)
- Roger C. Cramton, Nonstatutory Review of Federal Administrative Action: The Need for Statutory Reform of Sovereign Immunity, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, and Parties Defendant, 68 Mich. L. Rev. 387 (1970)
- Roger C. Cramton, Report of the Committee on Judicial Review in Support of Recommendation No. 7 (1968)
Information Interchange Bulletins
- IIB-024, Judicial Review of Agency Action
Current Projects
News Releases and Blog Posts
Assembly Recommendations
- Recommendation 2020-6, Agency Litigation Webpages
Publications and Reports
- Mark Thomson, Report on Agency Litigation Webpages (Nov. 24, 2020)
Information Interchange Bulletins
- IIB-009, Recordkeeping in Informal Rulemaking
Blog Posts and News Releases
- Kristin Hickman & Mark Thomson, Improving Agency Litigation Pages (June 4, 2021) (originally published on The Regulatory Review)
Assembly Recommendations
- Recommendation 2018-2, Severability in Agency Rulemaking
- Recommendation 2013-6, Remand Without Vacatur
- Recommendation 80-2, Enforcement of Petroleum Price Regulations
- Recommendation 71-8, Modification and Dissolution of Orders and Injunctions
- Recommendation 69-2, Judicial Enforcement of Orders of the National Labor Relations Board
Publications and Reports
- Charles W. Tyler & E. Donald Elliott, Tailoring the Scope of Judicial Remedies in Administrative Law (May 4, 2018)
- Stephanie J. Tatham, The Unusual Remedy of Remand Without Vacatur (Jan. 3, 2014)
- Recommendation 80-2, Enforcement of Petroleum Price Regulations
- Edward A. Tomlinson, Modification and Dissolution of Administrative Orders and Injunctions, 31 Md. L. Rev. 312 (1971)
- Report of the Committee on Judicial Review in Support of Recommendation No. 10 (Judicial Enforcement of Orders of the National Labor Relations Board)
Current Projects
Forums and Workshops
- Nationwide Injunctions and Federal Regulatory Programs (Feb. 12, 2020)
- Transcript of Forum on Nationwide Injuctions and Federal Regulatory Programs (Feb. 12, 2020)
News Releases and Blog Posts
- Experts Debate Nationwide Injunctions at February 12 ACUS Co-Sponsored Forum (Feb. 25, 2020)
- ACUS to Co-Host Forum on "Nationwide Injunctions and Federal Regulatory Programs" (Jan. 31, 2020)
- Charles Tyler, Severability in Agency Rulemaking (Oct. 31, 2018) (originally published on The Regulatory Review)
Assembly Recommendations
- Recommendation 2018-2, Severability in Agency Rulemaking
- Statement #19: Issue Exhaustion in Pre-Enforcement Judicial Review of Administrative Rulemaking (2015)
- Recommendation 93-4, Improving the Environment for Agency Rulemaking
- Recommendation 91-5, Facilitating the Use of Rulemaking by the National Labor Relations Board
- Recommendation 82-7, Judicial Review of Rules in Enforcement Proceedings
- Recommendation 81-2, Current Versions of the Bumpers Amendment
- Recommendation 79-6, Elimination of the Presumption of Validity of Agency Rules and Regulations in Judicial Review, as Exemplified by the Bumpers Amendment
- Recommendation 74-4, Preenforcement Judicial Review of Rules of General Applicability
Publications and Reports
- Charles W. Tyler & E. Donald Elliott, Tailoring the Scope of Judicial Remedies in Administrative Law (May 4, 2018)
- Jeffrey S. Lubbers, Fail to Comment at Your Own Risk: Does Issue Exhaustion Have a Place in Judicial Review of Rules? (May 5, 2015)
- Morton Rosenberg, The Critical Need for Effective Congressional Review of Agency Rules: Background and Considerations for Incremental Reform (July 18, 2012)
- Jerry L. Mashaw, Improving the Environment of Agency Rulemaking: An Essay on Management, Games, and Accountability, 57 Law & Contemporary Probs. 185 (1994)
- Mark H. Grunewald, The NLRB’s First Rulemaking: An Exercise in Pragmatism, 41 Duke L.J. 274 (1991)
- Paul R. Verkuil, Congressional Limitations on Judicial Review of Rules, 57 Tul. L. Rev. 733 (1983)
- Ronald M. Levin, Review of “Jurisdictional” Issues Under the Bumpers Amendment, 1983 Duke L.J. 355 (1983)
- Ronald M. Levin, Judicial Review and the Bumpers Amendment (1979)
- Preenforcement Judicial Review of Rules of General Applicability (1974)