In the 1998 case of Togo D. West, Jr., Secretary of Veterans Affairs v. Michael Gibson, the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a dispute over veterans' benefits. The respondent, Michael Gibson, was denied disability benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and sought judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). However, according to Title 38 USC Section 511(a), decisions made by VA regarding benefits are final and conclusive and cannot be reviewed by any other official or court except for an appeal within VA itself. The question before the court was whether this provision barred APA review in federal courts. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that it did bar such review. It held that Congress intended to limit jurisdiction over these disputes to internal administrative channels within VA rather than allowing them into general federal courts under APA's broad grant of jurisdiction for agency actions unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed.

In the dissenting opinion for Togo D. West, Jr., Secretary of Veterans Affairs v. Michael Gibson, Justice Scalia disagreed with the majority's interpretation of 38 U.S.C §511(a), which restricts judicial review of decisions affecting benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He argued that this provision should not be read to bar district court jurisdiction over constitutional claims against VA officials. According to him, Congress did not intend such a broad reading when it enacted §511(a) and its historical context does not support this interpretation either. The majority’s decision would mean that veterans alleging constitutional violations must first present their claims to VA officials who lack expertise in constitutional law and are unlikely to rule against their own department's actions - an absurd result according to Scalia.