Court Finds Standing For AALJ Lawsuit

The Association of Administrative Law Judges (AALJ), several individual ALJs and several prospective ALJs brought a civil action against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) over three actions of OPM:

1. Requiring ALJs to maintain active bar membership
2. New provisions on assignment of cases to ALJs in rotation
3. A new vacancy announcement for the ALJ position that allegedly gives unfair advantage to applicants already employed in federal service.

OPM moved to dismiss the entire lawsuit on the grounds of lack of standing. The Court has issued a memorandum opinion.

The Court is allowing the plaintiffs to amend their complaint to allege that individual ALJ plaintiffs have allowed their bar membership to lapse and are therefore in danger of losing their jobs as ALJs. Amending the complaint in this way could be embarrassing for the ALJs who would have to admit that they had allowed their bar membership to lapse. It might be difficult for them to continue to hold hearings and issue decisions with their right to be ALJs so obviously in question.

The Court dismissed the assignment of cases part of the complaint on the grounds that the issue was not ripe for adjudication.

Finally, the Court is allowing the plaintiffs to amend their complaint to allege that some of the plaintiffs would apply for ALJ positions if the application process were reopened.