Cite as: 538 U. S. 644 (2003)
Opinion of Breyer, J.
837 (1984); Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U. S. 134 (1944). Cf. post, at 680-681 (Thomas, J., concurring in judgment).
The Medicaid statute sets forth a method through which Maine may obtain those views. A participating State must file a Medicaid plan with HHS and obtain HHS approval. 42 U. S. C. § 1396. A State must also promptly file a plan amendment to reflect any "[m]aterial changes in State law, organization, or policy, or in the State's operation of the Medicaid program." 42 CFR § 430.12(c) (2002). And the Secretary has said that a statute like Maine's is a "significant component of a state plan" with respect to which Maine is expected to file an amendment. App. to Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 48a.
In addition, the legal doctrine of "primary jurisdiction" permits a court itself to "refer" a question to the Secretary. That doctrine seeks to produce better informed and uniform legal rulings by allowing courts to take advantage of an agency's specialized knowledge, expertise, and central position within a regulatory regime. United States v. Western Pacific R. Co., 352 U. S. 59, 63-65 (1956). "No fixed formula exists" for the doctrine's application. Id., at 64. Rather, the question in each instance is whether a case raises "issues of fact not within the conventional experience of judges," but within the purview of an agency's responsibilities; whether the "limited functions of review by the judiciary are more rationally exercised, by preliminary resort" to an agency "better equipped than courts" to resolve an issue in the first instance; or, in a word, whether preliminary reference of issues to the agency will promote that proper working relationship between court and agency that the primary jurisdiction doctrine seeks to facilitate. Far East Conference v. United States, 342 U. S. 570, 574-575 (1952); see also Western Pacific R. Co., supra, at 63-65. Cf. 2 R. Pierce, Administrative Law § 14.4, p. 944 (2002) (relatively frequent application of the doctrine in pre-emption cases).
673
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