Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has no history of rulings directly in Social Security cases as best I can tell. There just aren't that many Social Security cases arising in the D.C. Circuit where he has been a judge. However, he has opined on an issue that could directly affect the Social Security Administration. He believes that it is unconstitutional to have an independent agency with a solitary head, such as the Social Security Administration. He's a fan of the "unitary executive" theory who believes that we're all safer if the President has largely unlimited power over the Executive Branch. Since the President can't simply fire a confirmed Commissioner of Social Security, the agency, as presently constituted, would be unconstitutional in Kavanaugh's view. If Kavanaugh is confirmed, expect litigation over the constitutionality of the Social Security Commissioner, assuming a Commissioner is also confirmed.
He wrote the opinion in Rossello v. Astrue, 529 F.3d 1181 (D.C.Cir. 2008), holding that SSI recipient did not engage in SGA. Also, was on the panel on some unpublished SS cases.
ReplyDeleteWhat deeply concerns me about Kavanaugh is his judgment and moral fitness for the job. The recently "leaked" e-mails and documents show that he supported John Yoo to be appointed as a Judge, even after knowing about Yoo's infamous torture memo. In my opinion, John Yoo's torture memo is the greatest embarrassment to this country by a member of the legal profession in recent memory. It has persuasively been described as a poorly reasoned legal document written by Yoo to provide legal cover to the U.S. government for committing torture and human rights abuses. Kavanaugh's public support of Yoo despite knowing of his memo, in my opinion, renders him unfit. Do we want a supreme court judge with poor judgment? Or one who believes that what Yoo wrote in the memo is acceptable and praiseworthy? Mr. Yoo has apparently returned the favor by shilling for Kavanaugh's nomination in an opinion piece on Fox News.
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