Cite as: 529 U. S. 1 (2000)
Thomas, J., dissenting
out an anticipatory challenge, did not qualify for the Michigan Academy exception to § 1395ii because others in his class could afford to pursue review by undergoing the surgery and presenting a concrete claim for reimbursement. See ante, at 12. Setting aside the peculiarity of interpreting a statute to deny judicial review to the poor with the promise that the rich will obtain review in their stead,10 the majority's gloss on Ringer ignores the Ringer Court's own description of its holding. In rejecting plaintiff Ringer's attempt to use § 1331, the Ringer Court did not rely on some notion that Ringer or those similarly situated to him could as a practical matter seek judicial review through some means other than § 1331; the Court instead reasoned that Ringer's claim was "essentially one requesting the payment of benefits for [a particular] surgery, a claim cognizable only under § 405(g)." 466 U. S., at 620.
III
It would overstate matters to say that the foregoing analysis demonstrates beyond question that respondent may invoke general federal-question jurisdiction. Any remaining doubt is resolved, however, by the longstanding canon that "judicial review of executive action 'will not be cut off unless there is persuasive reason to believe that such was the purpose of Congress.' " Gutierrez de Martinez v. Lamagno, 515 U. S. 417, 424 (1995) (quoting Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U. S. 136, 140 (1967)). See also, e. g., McNary v. Haitian Refugee Center, Inc., 498 U. S. 479, 496 (1991);
10 The majority attempts to soften the blow by explaining that "individual hardship may be mitigated in a different way, namely, through excusing a number of the steps in the agency process, though not the step of presentment of the matter to the agency." Ante, at 23 (emphasis added). But the italicized words show why the majority's concession provides cold comfort to a plaintiff like Ringer—or, arguably, the nursing homes represented by respondent here, see ante, at 21-22—who cannot afford to present a concrete claim to the agency, and thus can obtain neither administrative nor judicial review.
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