United States v. Williams, 514 U.S. 527, 21 (1995)

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Cite as: 514 U. S. 527 (1995)

Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting

is a fact of life, and heretofore lienors—least of all the United States—have not been required to afford the legal equivalent of "same day service" to finally adjudicate title before the closing date.

Respondent was not left only with the remedy of a quiet title action; she could have sought from the Secretary a "certificate of discharge" of the property under 26 U. S. C. § 6325(b)(3) by agreeing to hold the proceeds of the sale of the property "as a fund subject to the liens and claims of the United States," with the propriety of the liens to be litigated in a subsequent action under § 7426(a)(3). The Court finds this remedy inadequate because it was a "doubtful" remedy upon which respondent could not "rely," since the certificate of discharge could issue only in the exercise of the Secretary's discretion. Ante, at 537. That the Secretary must exercise discretion does not make § 6325(b)(3) a "doubtful" remedy. Congress appropriately granted the Secretary discretion to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether the proceeds from the sale of property will be sufficient to protect the Government's tax lien. And because the worth of respondent's property "far exceeded the value of the Government's liens," ibid., the Secretary most likely would have issued a certificate of discharge in this case. But respondent never sought to invoke this remedy, and the cases are legion holding that a person may not claim an administrative remedy was inadequate if she never sought to invoke it. See, e. g., McGee v. United States, 402 U. S. 479, 483 (1971) (a Selective Service registrant may not complain in court if the registrant "has failed to pursue normal administrative remedies and thus has sidestepped a corrective process which might have cured or rendered moot the very defect later complained of"); Geo. F. Alger Co. v. Peck, 74 S. Ct. 605, 606- 607, 98 L. Ed. 1148, 1150 (1954) (Reed, J., in chambers) (a company may not complain in court when it failed to take advantage of an available administrative remedy, even though that remedy may "cause inconvenience and ex-

547

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