American Hospital Association v. Thomas Price

.WILKINS, Circuit Judge:'

Ought implies can.1 That is, in order for law—man-made or otherwise—to command the performance of an act; that act must be possible to perform. This lofty philosophical maxim, ordinarily relevant only to bright-eyed college freshmen, sums up our reasoning in this case.

*162Congress established an administrative appeals process for denied Medicare reimbursement claims, and directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to complete that process within a specified timeframe. Buried under an ever-growing backlog of over a half-million appeals, HHS failed—and…