Reading Room Document

Secretary of Education Review of Administrative Law Judge Decisions

Section 22 of the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989 provides that a decision of an administrative law judge reviewing the termination of federal assistance to educational institutions or agencies "shall be considered to be a final agency action." This provision does not preclude the Secretary of Education from reviewing such administrative law judge decisions. Because section 22 makes an administrative law judge decision a final agency action for purposes of judicial review, it deprives the Secretary of the power to require exhaustion of secretarial review procedures before an aggrieved party may seek judicial review. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23276/download.

January 31, 1991