430
Opinion of the Court
Congress may be free to establish a compensation scheme that operates without court participation. Cf. 21 U. S. C. § 904 (authorizing executive settlement of tort claims that "arise in a foreign country in connection with the operations of the [DEA] abroad"). But that is a matter quite different from instructing a court automatically to enter a judgment pursuant to a decision the court has no authority to evaluate. Cf. United States v. Klein, 13 Wall. 128, 146 (1872) (Congress may not "prescribe rules of decision to the Judicial Department of the government in cases pending before it"). We resist ascribing to Congress an intention to place courts in this untenable position.6
III
We return now, in more detail, to the statutory language to determine whether it overcomes the presumption favoring judicial review, the tradition of court review of scope certifications, and the anomalies attending foreclosure of review.
The certification, removal, and substitution provisions of the Westfall Act, 28 U. S. C. §§ 2679(d)(1)-(3),7 work together
6 To the reality of an executive decisionmaker with scant incentive to act impartially, and a court used to rubber-stamp that decisionmaker's judgment, the dissent can only reply that these are "rare cases." Post, at 447. But this dispute centers solely on cases fitting the description "rare." See supra, at 422. It is hardly an answer to say that, in other cases, indeed in the great bulk of cases, court offices are not misused.
7 Section 2679(d) provides in pertinent part: "(1) Upon certification by the Attorney General that the defendant employee was acting within the scope of his office or employment at the time of the incident out of which the claim arose, any civil action or proceeding commenced upon such claim in a United States district court shall be deemed an action against the United States under the provisions of this title and all references thereto, and the United States shall be substituted as the party defendant.
"(2) Upon certification by the Attorney General that the defendant employee was acting within the scope of his office or employment at the time of the incident out of which the claim arose, any civil action or proceeding commenced upon such claim in a State court shall be removed without bond at any time before trial by the Attorney General to the district court
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