A palladium-catalyzed ortho-C-H amidation of anilides by N-nosyloxycarbamates was developed for the synthesis of 2-aminoanilines. This reaction can be carried out under relatively mild conditions and exhibits excellent regioselectivity and functional group tolerance. The amidation reaction is probably initiated by rate-limiting C-H cyclopalladation (k(H)/k(D) = 3.7) to form an arylpalladium complex, followed by nitrene functionalization.