opinion: GOTTHILF v. SILLS et al.
  No. 50.
  Argued October 24, 1963.
  —Decided November 18, 1963.
  O. John Rogge argued the cause and filed briefs for petitioner.
  Theodore Chamas argued the cause and filed a brief for respondents.
  Louis J. Lefkowits, Attorney General of New York, filed a brief as amicus curiae, urging dismissal of the writ as improvidently granted or, in the alternative, affirmance. With him on the brief was Paxton Blair, Solicitor General.
  Per Curiam.
  The Supreme Court of New York County issued an order granting body execution (N. Y. Civ. Prac. Act § 764) against petitioner for failure to pay a money judgment which had been finally entered against him in that court in an action premised on fraud and deceit. On appeal to the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, petitioner attacked § 764 as being violative of both the state and federal constitutions. The order was affirmed, 17 App. Div. 2d 723. Petitioner then filed a motion in the Court of Appeals of New York for leave to appeal (N. Y. Civ. Prac. Act § 589) which was dismissed for want of jurisdiction because “the order sought to be appealed from does not finally determine the action within the meaning of the Constitution.” 12 N. Y. 2d 761, 186 N. E. 2d 563. See Chase Watch Corp. v. Heins, 283 N. Y. 564, 27 N. E. 2d 282 (1940); cf. Knickerbocker Trust Co. v. Oneonta, C. & R. S. R. Co., 197 N. Y. 391, 90 N. E. 1111 (1910). An appeal to the Court of Appeals as of right (N. Y. Civ. Prac. Act § 588) was dismissed on the same ground. 12 N. Y. 2d 792, 186 N. E. 2d 811. Certiorari was granted to review the judgment of the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department. 372 U. S. 957.
  Section 589 of the New York Civil Practice Act provides inter alia that appeals from nonfinal orders can only be taken to the Court of Appeals by leave of the Appellate Division upon certified questions. The petitioner at no time applied to the Appellate Division for such permission. It therefore appears that the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, “was not the last state court in which a decision of that [constitutional] question could be had.” Gorman v. Washington University, 316 U. S. 98, 100 (1942). The judgment of the Appellate Division is not that of the “highest court of a State in which a decision could be had” within the meaning of 28 U. S. C. § 1257. Whether, under the same section, that judgment is “final,” a question of purely federal law, involves entirely different considerations. The petition for certiorari was therefore improvidently granted and the writ is
  Dismissed.
instruction: What follows is an opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States. Your task is to identify whether administrative action occurred in the context of the case prior to the onset of litigation. The activity may involve an administrative official as well as that of an agency. To determine whether administration action occurred in the context of the case, consider the material which appears in the summary of the case preceding the Court's opinion and, if necessary, those portions of the prevailing opinion headed by a I or II. Action by an agency official is considered to be administrative action except when such an official acts to enforce criminal law. If an agency or agency official "denies" a "request" that action be taken, such denials are considered agency action. Exclude: a "challenge" to an unapplied agency rule, regulation, etc.; a request for an injunction or a declaratory judgment against agency action which, though anticipated, has not yet occurred; a mere request for an agency to take action when there is no evidence that the agency did so; agency or official action to enforce criminal law; the hiring and firing of political appointees or the procedures whereby public officials are appointed to office; attorney general preclearance actions pertaining to voting; filing fees or nominating petitions required for access to the ballot; actions of courts martial; land condemnation suits and quiet title actions instituted in a court; and federally funded private nonprofit organizations.