5 U.S.C. § 704
Section 704 · Actions reviewable
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 2,421 court decisions — leading case Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner (1967)
Most recently applied in Riley v. Bondi (June 2025)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (477 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 5 U.S.C. § 706 · 5 U.S.C. § 702 · 5 U.S.C. § 701
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Agency action made reviewable by statute and final agency action for which there is no other adequate remedy in a court are subject to judicial review. A preliminary, procedural, or intermediate agency action or ruling not directly reviewable is subject to review on the review of the final agency action. Except as otherwise expressly required by statute, agency action otherwise final is final for the purposes of this section whether or not there has been presented or determined an application for a declaratory order, for any form of reconsideration, or, unless the agency otherwise requires by rule and provides that the action meanwhile is inoperative, for an appeal to superior agency authority.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface of this report.