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Document Type

Article

Abstract

This Essay addresses the pending case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Johnson v. U.S. Congress, and argues that the Court should resolve the tension between regular federal jurisdiction and specialized administrative court jurisdiction for veterans’ benefits claims. Veterans’ benefits exceptionalism, it asserts, should not overcome the usual federal court process. Ordinary benefits-entitlement claims, and some statutory-validity claims, may properly remain in the specialized pipeline established by the Veterans’ Judicial Review Act. But structural constitutional challenges to the Veterans Administration adjudicatory apparatus should receive immediate district court review when they satisfy the three-factor test the Court applies to determine whether claims fall outside a statutory review scheme, showing that later review would be inadequate, the claim is collateral to the benefits merits, and the constitutional question lies outside the agency’s expertise.

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