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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Yesler Terrace Community Council v. Cisneros, 37 F.3d 442 (1994)

Citation
Yesler Terrace Community Council v. Cisneros, 37 F.3d 442 (1994)
Parent Document
Yesler Terrace Community Council v. Cisneros, 37 F.3d 442 (1994)
Effective Date
1994-09-12

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18
5 U.S.C. Sec. 551(4).5 An adjudication (which results in an order) is virtually any agency action that is not rulemaking. 5 U.S.C. Sec. 551(6)-(7). Two principal characteristics distinguish rulemaking from adjudication. First, adjudications resolve disputes among specific individuals in specific cases, whereas rulemaking affects the rights of broad classes of unspecified individuals. See United States v. Florida E. Coast Ry., 410 U.S. 224, 244-45, 93 S.Ct. 810, 820-21, 35 L.Ed.2d 223 (1973); Ford Motor Co. v. FTC., 673 F.2d 1008, 1010 (9th Cir.1981), cert. denied 459 U.S. 999, 103 S.Ct. 358, 74 L.Ed.2d 394 (1982). Second, because adjudications involve concrete disputes, they have an immediate effect on specific individuals (those involved in the dispute). Rulemaking, in contrast, is prospective, and has a definitive effect on individuals only after the rule subsequently is applied. See Bowen v. Georgetown Univ. Hosp., 488 U.S. 204, 216-17, 109 S.Ct. 468, 476, 102 L.Ed.2d 493 (1988) (the "central distinction" between rulemaking and adjudication is that rules have legal consequences "only for the future") (Scalia, J., concurring) (emphasis added); Prentis v. Atlantic Coast Line Co., 211 U.S. 210, 226, 29 S.Ct. 67, 69, 53 L.Ed. 150 (1908).