Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services v. Edwards

Decided March 21, 1984. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 82-874 · 465 U.S. 870 (1984) · Cited 246 times

Holding

A party does not have a right to direct review in this Court under 1252 unless the district court's holding of federal statutory unconstitutionality is in issue, and hence here the Court of Appeals improperly dismissed petitioner's appeal for lack of jurisdiction, since only the District Court's remedy was challenged.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson · 404 U.S. 97 (1971)
• United States v. Raines · 362 U.S. 17 (1960)
• Califano v. Goldfarb · 430 U.S. 199 (1977)
• Cheng Fan Kwok v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 392 U.S. 206 (1968)
• Califano v. Westcott · 443 U.S. 76 (1979)
• Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Jacobsen · 362 U.S. 73 (1960)
• Gonzalez v. Automatic Employees Credit Union · 419 U.S. 90 (1974)
• United States v. Clark · 445 U.S. 23 (1980)
• United States v. American Friends Service Committee · 419 U.S. 7 (1974)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Walters v. National Assn. of Radiation Survivors · 473 U.S. 305 (1985)
• Sullivan v. Zebley · 493 U.S. 521 (1990)
• Maine v. Taylor · 477 U.S. 131 (1986)
• Alaska Airlines, Inc. v. Brock · 480 U.S. 678 (1987)
• National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. · 470 U.S. 451 (1985)
• Selective Service System v. Minnesota Public Interest Research Group · 468 U.S. 841 (1984)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1984). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).