Employment — federal employment — judicial review

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U.S. Supreme Court

Civil

Employment — federal employment — judicial review

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 precludes district court jurisdiction over the claims of federal government employees because it is fairly discernible that Congress intended the statute’s review scheme to provide the exclusive avenue to judicial review for covered employees who challenge covered adverse employment actions, even when those employees argue that a federal statute is unconstitutional.

Just as the CSRA’s “elaborate” framework demonstrated Congress’ intent to entirely foreclose judicial review to employees to whom the CSRA denies statutory review in Fausto, 484 U. S., at 443, the CSRA indicates that extrastatutory review is not available to those employees to whom the CSRA grants administrative and judicial review. It “prescribes in great detail the protections and remedies applicable to” adverse personnel actions against federal employees, ibid., specifically enumerating the major adverse actions and employee classifications to which the CSRA’s procedural protections and review provisions apply, §§7511, 7512, setting out the procedures due an employee prior to final agency action, §7513, and exhaustively detailing the system of review before the MSPB and the Federal Circuit, §§7701, 7703. Petitioners and the Government do not dispute that petitioners are removed employees to whom CSRA review is provided, but petitioners claim that there is an exception to the CSRA review scheme for employees who bring constitutional challenges to federal statutes; this claim finds no support in the CSRA’s text and structure. The availability of administrative and judicial review under the CSRA generally turns on the type of civil service employee and adverse employment action at issue. Nothing in the CSRA’s text suggests that its exclusive review scheme is inapplicable simply because a covered employee raises a constitutional challenge. And §7703(b)(2)—which expressly exempts from Federal Circuit review challenges alleging that a covered action was based on discrimination prohibited by enumerated federal employment laws—demonstrates that Congress knew how to provide alternative forums for judicial review based on the nature of an employee’s claim.

641 F. 3d 6, affirmed.

11-45 Elgin v. Department of the Treasury   

Thomas, J.; Alito, J., dissenting.