Gary Drescher wrote:
"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:lMBof.168$CL.5@trnddc04...

Matt Whiting wrote:


But isn't it the NTSB that usually makes the final determination on the
appeal?

Used to be that way. Congress added the possibility of an appeal to the
U.S. Appeals court some years ago.


George, I have a different understanding of the three branches' separation
of powers. Neither the administration nor the Congress has the
Constitutional authority to make a federal agency's decisions categorically
immune to judicial review. Congress may have formalized the appeal process
at some point, but I don't think it could have previously been the case that
NTSB decisions were exempt from all judicial appeal. The NTSB may formerly
have taken that position, but that didn't make it true. Was there ever a
case that an appeals court refused to hear on the grounds that NTSB
decisions were inherently unappealable?

It has been a long time since my high school American Government class,
but I thought that this only applied to constitional rights, not
so-called privileges. If your state pulls your driver's license, can
you really appeal that through the Federal court system?


Matt