United States v. Fausto

Decided January 25, 1988. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-595 · 484 U.S. 439 (1988) · Cited 1,008 times

Holding

The CSRA, which affords to nonpreference eligibles in the excepted service no administrative or judicial review of adverse personnel action of the type involved here, precludes judicial review for those employees under the Tucker Act based on the Back Pay Act.

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 5–3.

“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.

• Block v. Community Nutrition Institute · 467 U.S. 340 (1984)
• Lindahl v. Office of Personnel Management · 470 U.S. 768 (1985)
• Vitarelli v. Seaton · 359 U.S. 535 (1959)
• Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co. · 467 U.S. 986 (1984)
• Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · 387 U.S. 136 (1967)
• United States v. Testan · 424 U.S. 392 (1976)
• Rodriguez v. United States · 480 U.S. 522 (1987)
• United States v. Erika, Inc. · 456 U.S. 201 (1982)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp · 397 U.S. 150 (1970)
• Davis v. Passman · 442 U.S. 228 (1979)
• Carlson v. Green · 446 U.S. 14 (1980)
• Morton v. Mancari · 417 U.S. 535 (1974)
• Regional Rail Reorganization Act Cases · 419 U.S. 102 (1974)
• Bowen v. Michigan Academy of Family Physicians · 476 U.S. 667 (1986)
• Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Curran · 456 U.S. 353 (1982)
• Radzanower v. Touche Ross & Co. · 426 U.S. 148 (1976)
• Georgia v. Pennsylvania Railroad · 324 U.S. 439 (1945)
• Randall v. Loftsgaarden · 478 U.S. 647 (1986)
• United States v. United Continental Tuna Corp. · 425 U.S. 164 (1976)
• Southern Railway Co. v. Seaboard Allied Milling Corp. · 442 U.S. 444 (1979)
• St. Martin Evangelical Lutheran Church v. South Dakota · 451 U.S. 772 (1981)

Cited by

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

• Perry v. Merit Systems Protection Bd. · 582 U.S. 420 (2017)
• Elgin v. Department of the Treasury · 567 U.S. 1 (2012)
• Horne v. Department of Agriculture · 569 U.S. 513 (2013)
• Food & Drug Administration v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. · 529 U.S. 120 (2000)
• Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis · 584 U.S. 497 (2018)
• Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency · 566 U.S. 120 (2012)
• Gomez-Perez v. Potter · 553 U.S. 474 (2008)
• Patterson v. McLean Credit Union · 491 U.S. 164 (1989)
• Verizon Maryland Inc. v. Public Service Commission of Maryland · 535 U.S. 635 (2002)
• Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States Ex Rel. Stevens · 529 U.S. 765 (2000)
• Shalala v. Illinois Council on Long Term Care, Inc. · 529 U.S. 1 (2000)
• McNary v. Haitian Refugee Center, Inc. · 498 U.S. 479 (1991)
• Pennsylvania v. Union Gas Co. · 491 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Jones v. Hendrix · 599 U.S. 465 (2023)
• Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak · 567 U.S. 209 (2012)
• United States v. Bormes · 568 U.S. 6 (2012)
• Kloeckner v. Solis · 568 U.S. 41 (2012)
• Karahalios v. National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1263 · 489 U.S. 527 (1989)
• Hinck v. United States · 550 U.S. 501 (2007)
• Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad v. Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n · 491 U.S. 490 (1989)
• Levin v. United States · 568 U.S. 503 (2013)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1988). 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).