{
  "id": "RL32963",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32963",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
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      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 306210,
      "date": "2005-06-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:39:38.313029",
      "title": "The Availability of Judicial Review Regarding Military Base Closures and Realignments",
      "summary": "The 2005 round of military base realignments and closures (BRAC) is now underway. The\nDefense\nBase Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (Base Closure Act), as amended, establishes mandatory\nprocedures to be followed throughout the BRAC process and identifies criteria to be used in\nformulating BRAC recommendations. However, judicial review is unlikely to be available to\nremedy alleged failures to comply with the Base Closure Act\u2019s provisions. A synopsis of\nthe\nrelevant law regarding the availability of judicial review in this context is included below:\n \n   The actions of the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) and the independent BRAC\nCommission (Commission) are not considered to be \u201cfinal agency action,\u201d and thus\ncannot be\njudicially reviewed pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).  \n   Even if a court determined that the actions of the Secretary and the \nCommission were \u201cfinal agency action,\u201d the court would likely consider the case to\nfall under one\nof two APA exceptions to judicial review: (1) when statutes preclude judicial review or (2) when\nagency action is committed to agency discretion by law.  \n   The President\u2019s actions cannot be judicially reviewed under the APA, because\nthe President is not an \u201cagency\u201d covered by the statute.  \n   A claim that the President exceeded his statutory authority under the Base\nClosure Act has been held to be judicially unreviewable, because the Base Closure Act gives the\nPresident broad discretion in approving or disapproving BRAC\nrecommendations.  \n \n Thus, courts would likely allow the BRAC process to proceed even if the Department of\nDefense, the Commission, or the President did not comply with the Base Closure Act\u2019s\nrequirements.\n \n This report was prepared by Ryan J. Watson, Law Clerk, under the general supervision of Aaron\nM. Flynn, Legislative Attorney. It will be updated as case developments warrant.",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc819791/",
      "id": "RL32963_2005Jun24",
      "date": "2005-06-24",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "The Availability of Judicial Review Regarding Military Base Closures and Realignments",
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Environmental Policy"
  ]
}