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After the ALJ--let's assume the ALJ is part of a federal agency--administers the decision, and the losing party disagrees with it, then can the losing party immediately appeal it to the US Court of Appeals? Or, does that party have to first go to the district court?

I think usually parties have to go to the district court first.

Depends on the organic statute governing the agency.

Nelson wrote:Depends on the organic statute governing the agency.

So for some agencies, the Congressional statute on point will allow for immediate appeal to the US COA, and for the other agencies, the Congressional statute provides a different process?

Nelson wrote:Depends on the organic statute governing the agency.

Crap, forgot to say this part.

You have to exhaust administrative appeals first. There is usually a process for appealing to the head of the agency before going to court.

Each agency will have a statute that organizes the structure of the agency and how appeals are handled.

I am currently taking admin law as a part-time student who also works full time at a federal agency, so take this with a grain of salt. I echo what is said above, you must first exhaust all administrative remedies before seeking judicial review of an administrative action. This typically means an internal appeal -- if its with a non-independent agency that is usually to an appeals board or an agency head, whereas with an independent agency (i.e. NLRB or SEC) the appeal is made to the independent board or commission. Once a final order is issued from the board, then the litigants may seek judicial review. Note, statutes typically set forth judicial review procedures that render a final administrative order as an appeallable order directly to a circuit court. However, not all agency statutes have a judicial review procedure. In those instances, the order may be appeallable to the district courts.