Title 28Judiciary and Judicial ProcedureRelease 119-73

§2347 Petitions to review; proceedings

Title 28 › Part PART VI— - PARTICULAR PROCEEDINGS › Chapter CHAPTER 158— - ORDERS OF FEDERAL AGENCIES; REVIEW › § 2347

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Explains how the court of appeals handles petitions that ask it to review an agency action. If the agency held a hearing, the appeals court reviews the case using the agency’s record of papers, evidence, and what happened at the hearing. If the agency did not hold a hearing, the appeals court first decides whether one was required. Then it will either send the case back for a hearing, decide the case itself if the written filings and sworn statements show no real disagreement about important facts, or transfer the case to the petitioner’s local district court for a hearing. The district court uses the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. A party can ask the appeals court to allow new evidence. The party must show the evidence matters and that there were good reasons it was not given to the agency earlier.

Full Legal Text

Title 28, §2347

Judiciary and Judicial Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Unless determined on a motion to dismiss, petitions to review orders reviewable under this chapter are heard in the court of appeals on the record of the pleadings, evidence adduced, and proceedings before the agency, when the agency has held a hearing whether or not required to do so by law.
(b)When the agency has not held a hearing before taking the action of which review is sought by the petition, the court of appeals shall determine whether a hearing is required by law. After that determination, the court shall—
(1)remand the proceedings to the agency to hold a hearing, when a hearing is required by law;
(2)pass on the issues presented, when a hearing is not required by law and it appears from the pleadings and affidavits filed by the parties that no genuine issue of material fact is presented; or
(3)transfer the proceedings to a district court for the district in which the petitioner resides or has its principal office for a hearing and determination as if the proceedings were originally initiated in the district court, when a hearing is not required by law and a genuine issue of material fact is presented. The procedure in these cases in the district court is governed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
(c)If a party to a proceeding to review applies to the court of appeals in which the proceeding is pending for leave to adduce additional evidence and shows to the satisfaction of the court that—
(1)the additional evidence is material; and
(2)there were reasonable grounds for failure to adduce the evidence before the agency;

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 1037.Dec. 29, 1950, ch. 1189, § 7, 64 Stat. 1130. Aug. 28, 1958, Pub. L. 85–791, § 31(b), 72 Stat. 951. The headnotes of the subsections are omitted as unnecessary and to conform to the style of title 28. In subsection (a), the words “the petition” following “on a motion to dismiss” are omitted as unnecessary. The word “are” is substituted for “shall be”. The words “in fact” following “when the agency has” are omitted as unnecessary. In subsection (b)(3), the words “United States” preceding “district court” are omitted as unnecessary because the term “district court” as used in title 28 means a United States district court. See section 451 of title 28, United States Code. The words “or any petitioner” are omitted as unnecessary in view of the definition of “petitioner” in section 2341 of this title. In the last sentence, the word “is” is substituted for “shall be”. In subsection (c), the words “applies” and “shows” are substituted for “shall apply” and “shall show”, respectively.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, referred to in subsec. (b)(3), are set out in the Appendix to this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

28 U.S.C. § 2347

Title 28Judiciary and Judicial Procedure

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73