''Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance'', 542 U.S. 55 (2004), was a Supreme Court case that held that although the
Administrative Procedure Act
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), , is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations, and it grants U.S. federa ...
says that a person may challenge an agency's failure to act, this provision essentially just carries forward the writ of
mandamus
(; ) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public authority, to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain from ...
. Thus an agency cannot be compelled to act unless there is some non-discretionary, discrete act. Therefore, in this case, an interest group could not challenge an agency's failure to "act so as to preserve the wilderness" in accordance with the statute.
Background
Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the federal Bureau of Land Management is required to manage "2.5 million acres of land in Utah" called "wilderness study areas." The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and other environmentalist groups filed suit under the Administrative Procedure Act, compelling the government to act when "an agency has failed to meet its legal duties." The Wilderness Alliance claimed that the Bureau of Land Management had failed to adequately protect the study areas and that the bureau permitted off-road vehicle use that damaged the study areas, violating the act passed by Congress in 1976.
See also
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List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 542
This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 542 of the ''United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, ...
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List of United States Supreme Court cases
References
External links
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United States Supreme Court cases
2004 in the environment
2004 in United States case law
United States administrative case law
United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court
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