Friends of the Everglades, Inc., et al. v. Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al.
Split Score
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This score (0-100) indicates how likely this case is to be reviewed by the Supreme Court based on:
Case Summary
Disposition
Vacated
The Eleventh Circuit held that construction of a state-built immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades was not subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) because there was no final federal agency action and the project was not a "major federal action" under the 2023 amendments to NEPA. Concluding that the district court abused its discretion in issuing a preliminary injunction and that part of the injunction also contravened 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1), the court vacated the injunction and remanded.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether the Administrative Procedure Act’s “final agency action” requirement is a jurisdictional limitation on the federal courts’ subject-matter jurisdiction (as the Eleventh Circuit holds) or merely a non-jurisdictional element of a cause of action (as the D.C. Circuit holds).
Circuit Positions
Final-agency-action requirement is jurisdictional; without it, courts lack subject-matter jurisdiction.
Final-agency-action requirement is not jurisdictional but goes to the merits of the APA claim.
Conflict Summary
The Eleventh Circuit treats the absence of a final agency action as a jurisdictional bar that deprives federal courts of power to hear the case, whereas the D.C. Circuit views the final-agency-action requirement as non-jurisdictional, affecting only the plaintiff’s ability to state a claim under the APA but not the court’s jurisdiction.