Gary Drescher wrote:

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?

Absolutely. This lack of appeal to the judicial branch was a big bone of
contention for AOPA in the early 90s. The latest article I found recently in
AOPAs files describing this dates from 1994, so it was changed sometime after
that. A later Yodice (IIRC) article states that this was changed by decree of
Congress.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.