The Secretary's decision did not fall into the Administrative Procedure Act's exception for action "committed to agency discretion."
Conversely, the precedent set in this case could allow a more thorough Congress to limit this type of agency discretion in the future.
The Court's opinion skirted the jurisdictional issue, ruling that an agency's decision not to pursue an enforcement action is presumptively unreviewable, as such actions are "committed to agency discretion by law" under 701(a)(2) of the Administrative Procedure Act.
The section also states explicitly that in the latter situation such agency action shall not be deemed committed to unreviewable agency discretion within the meaning of section 10.
Secondly, agency discretion should be limited in so far as this is compatible with efficient operational decisions.
Although USOPM regulations prescribe specific requirements that govern most aspects of RIF, they do provide for agency discretion in some areas.
Unlike the General Schedule, SES pay is determined at agency discretion within certain parameters, and there is no locality pay adjustment.
Whether the TSA's expert judgment to withhold SSI from civil litigants and their attorneys constitutes "actions committed to agency discretion by law"
Page 4 GAO/OGC-96-41 HCFA found that notice and comment procedures were unnecessary with respect to this regulatory change since it did not involve an exercise of agency discretion.
Initially, the MSPB's presiding officials sided with the employers on the grounds that selection of a penalty was a matter of agency discretion.