ABSTRACT
After a circuit court rules against an agency, the administrators must decide whether to implement the decision or fi nd a way of resisting it. Appealing a case to a higher court is the most straightforward way that an agency can express its disapproval with a circuit’s judgment, and it comes at the lowest cost. A judge can hardly fault administrators for exhausting all of their appeals before accepting a defeat in court as fi nal. An agency is free to ask a panel to rehear a decision or request that the entire circuit review the matter en banc; administrators might also fi le a certiorari petition to obtain review by the Supreme Court. Judges would be hard pressed to characterize this sort of behavior as noncompliance because it is reasonable for agencies to examine all of the legal alternatives before proceeding with implementation.
