Judicial Review Under the APA of Agency Inaction in Contravention of a Statutory Mandate: Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

摘要

Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, presently before the U.S. Supreme Court on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, raises a fundamental issue of administrative law: whether the federal courts have jurisdiction under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to review inaction by a federal agency when that inaction violates a nondiscretionary statutory mandate imposed by the U.S. Congress. That question goes to the heart of modem administrative law, which is fundamentally concerned with the relationships among agencies, other institutions of government, and the public, and in particular with the legal principles that constrain and direct the actions of administrative agencies to ensure their fidelity to policies established by law.