From the Joint Explanatory Statement (page 67) of the Conference Committee on the bill to fund the Social Security Administration (and other agencies) for Fiscal Year 2019, which begins on October 1, 2018:
It is vital that Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) be independent, impartial, and selected based on their qualifications. The conferees expect SSA to maintain a high standard for the appointment of ALJs, including the requirement that ALJ s have demonstrated experience as a licensed attorney and pass an ALJ examination administered by the Office of Personnel Management.This would largely undo Trump's big win in Lucia v. SEC or at least render it mostly meaningless.
9 comments:
It certainly does not reverse the EO.
This is cool and all but what you and lots of candidates on the ALJ discussion boards who are musing about this issue are missing is this:
What happens when SCOTUS hears the next big ALJ case and finally answers the million dollar question it so eagerly dodged in Lucia? When I read the majority opinion, it sure looked like that reasoning would result in all ALJs being found inferior officers.
If that's the case, it seems a given that SCOTUS--composed how it is currently (and soon)--will also find much of the APA unconstitutional as its provisions (MSPB rights and the competitive service nature/OPM test process being chief among them) infringe too much upon the Cabinet Head/Congress/President/Court's ability to choose, direct, control, and fire its inferior officers.
Not that big Congressional action was likely anyway, but if SCOTUS decides in those ways, I don't think there's really much anybody is going to be able to do about ALJs being in the excepted service and losing a lot of their unique rights.
What is more interesting is the pushback on DCPS and the requirement to have a report in 90 days on the status and the use of commercial off the shelf software instead.
If they do make the aljs removable at the whim of the executive branch, the solution will be to keep them independent by making them fall under the judicial branch. You can't have independent adjudicators in fear of their jobs.
The admin. doesn't want "independent" adjudicators.
@ 4:15, sadly it's true.
If the desire was for fair, independent adjudicators and managers with honesty and integrity we wouldn't have had issues with Huntington, PR, NYC, Madison and now, Miami.
There are young, fresh faced attorneys in every office with 6 figure student loan debt, mortgage debt and a ton of consumer debt drooling at the chance to grab the next ALJ slot. They won't be independent, either.
I agree with 1:16.
They should create a Federal Social Security Court similar to the Bankruptcy court. Then they could close down OHO and the AC. If the admin denies the claim, appeal to the Federal Court.
Effective December 1, 2016, the total fees you must pay to file a bankruptcy petition are:
•$335 for Chapter 7
•$1,717 for Chapter 11
•$275 for Chapter 12, and
•$310 for Chapter 13.
It would be interesting to see how a fee based model would impact the numbers of request for hearings filed.
It's only a matter of time before the APA is struck down by the Supreme Court and ALJ's become at will employees. Lucia was just the tip of the iceberg.
Post a Comment