Cite as: 511 U. S. 462 (1994)
Opinion of Blackmun, J.
stitutional claim, but a statutory one. Where a statute, such as the 1990 Act, commits decisionmaking to the discretion of the President, judicial review of the President's decision is not available.
Respondents tell us that failure to allow judicial review here would virtually repudiate Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137 (1803), and nearly two centuries of constitutional adjudication. But our conclusion that judicial review is not available for respondents' claim follows from our interpretation of an Act of Congress, by which we and all federal courts are bound. The judicial power of the United States conferred by Article III of the Constitution is upheld just as surely by withholding judicial relief where Congress has permissibly foreclosed it, as it is by granting such relief where authorized by the Constitution or by statute.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is
Reversed.
Justice Blackmun, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I did not join the majority opinion in Franklin v. Massachusetts, 505 U. S. 788 (1992), and would not extend that unfortunate holding to the facts of this case. I nevertheless agree that the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 "preclud[es] judicial review of a base-closing decision," post, at 484, and accordingly join Justice Souter's opinion.
I write separately to underscore what I understand to be the limited reach of today's decision. The majority and concurring opinions conclude that the President acts within his unreviewable discretion in accepting or rejecting a recommended base-closing list, and that an aggrieved party may not enjoin closure of a duly selected base as a result of alleged error in the decisionmaking process. This conclusion, however, does not foreclose judicial review of a claim, for example, that the President added a base to the Defense
477
Page: Index Previous 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007