Below is the memo that came out yesterday about personnel changes at Social Security. Click on it to view it at full size.
But that's not all. Yesterday afternoon, the White House released a list of acting heads of federal agencies and Andrew Saul was listed as the acting head of the Social Security Administration. I thought that Saul believed himself to be the confirmed Commissioner of Social Security, legally entitled to serve out his term of office which runs until January 2025. Unless Saul resigned and was then appointed Acting Commissioner, something which hasn't been announced, the White House announcement can't be technically accurate, although it may reflect the essential nature of the situation. By the way, the memo shown above indicates that it was signed by the Commissioner rather than the Acting Commissioner.
I'm sure that many readers of this blog have tuned out what I've written about the Supreme Court opinion in Seila Law v. CFPB but it's key to understanding what's going on. In that case, the Supreme Court held that the position of the head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau was unconstitutional because the incumbent served a fixed term of years and could only be fired by the President for cause. That sounds exactly like the Commissioner of Social Security. The position of Commissioner of Social Security wasn't before the Court. The attorney for Seila Law argued that there was a distinction between the head of the CFPB and the Commissioner of Social Security but it seems doubtful that the Court will buy that argument once a case squarely presents the issue.
I think we may surmise that there was a negotiation between Andrew Saul and President Biden's transition team and yesterday's announcements were the result. I don't understand why Saul wants to hang around to do the bidding of an Administration whose policies he must disagree with but he does.
So where does that leave the Seila Law litigation that the Social Security Administration is facing? What's Social Security's position? Seila Law totally doesn't apply to cases in the pipeline because Social Security is so much different than CFPB but it can't apply to any future cases because the White House now considers Andrew Saul the Acting Commissioner of Social Security even though Saul himself hasn't announced that he regards himself as serving at the pleasure of the President? That seems like an incoherent position.
By the way, I've heard an anecdotal report from one attorney that Social Security has recently asked for voluntary remands in all the cases he had in federal court where he was arguing Seila Law. Has anyone else seen this?
13 comments:
I'd be more prone to not read that WH memo on "Acting" literally vis a vis SSA and assume some staffer didn't get the nuance between appointing someone to act and having a Senate confirmed person already in there. Breaking up the memo to make that distinction - seems nitpicky. And leaving SSA off the list wasn't possible either. So Saul shows up as the leader because he is, even though he's technically not acting. If I were a member of the public, wondering who was running (agency name here) I'd include his name even though he's not acting.
That is why the WH Personnel Office is surrounding him with people who can call DC if/when they need to know what to do or advice on issues or positions. I've not seen the Plum Book recently but this is normal - I watched it happen with Clinton, Bush, Obama when they first got into office. Heck, that's what Korbey and Warshowsky were doing.
My guess would be Saul actually doesn't particularly care about policy and is content taking a pay check until his replacement is nominated and appointed. Biden isn't in a particular hurry to replace Saul because SSA isn't seen as a priority, and it's probably not given nearly the entire cabinet hasn't yet been appointed.
But maybe I'm just being uncharacteristically optimistic. Alternatively, Saul could've threatened to sue over his removal without cause and force the Courts to consider the issue in light of Seila.
Looks like will have Better Call Saul for a while. Smh?
Former AFGE Official as Chief of Staff?
Since AFGE represents the largest number of Agency employees, I'd say we just hired the fox to watch the hen house.
If you believe all union officials have high ideals, then you've never met with one that has other intentions.
Scott Frey was on the Biden Social Security Transition Team headed by Colvin.
Warshawsky was said to be the main person fighting against representation for Claimants at all and/or doing anything to see to it that claimants could be adequately represented.. Supposedly, he was the main obstacle to having the fee cap increased and was also behind efforts to change the grid rules to make being found disabled more difficult.
It will be interesting to see just what Scott Frey sees as his mission. Is he interested in protecting employees or making the employees at the SSA more accessible and responsive to claimants.
I don't see union officials routinely being found to have routinely broken federal labor law or lying to third-party tribunals, as is the case with SSA management. Glad your side lost, and lost badly!
AFGE is too much into identity politics and affirmative action, they should represent all employees rather than certain groups. I received an AFGE EMAIL saying Biden had ended Trumps ban on racial sensitivity training. What a colossal waste of time that will be. Sending employees to all day training classes which will only exacerbate tensions, all the while our case backlogs will be sitting unworked while employees are in class.
That being said Saul should go, he tried to do away with legitimate Union rights and he ended telework for thousands with no just cause. Although he has somewhat redeemed himself by letting employees resume telework during the pandemic, his reputation was already ruined by his earlier actions.
yeah, 9:28, an agency with a woeful history and current SOP of drastically under-promoting and rating minorities and those with disabilities would really be wasting its time with trainings on diversity.
Charles, we could really use “Like” arrows underneath comments. I salute 1:39AM here! Kudos!
@12:30 What folks fail to realize is that union folks are often in bed with the employer and frequently betray the folks they are supposed to be helping.
@12:30 I would think that problem may exist with NTEU and AFGE.
Andrew Saul, a Trump appointee whose six-year term as Social Security commissioner officially ends in 2025, had a curious new “acting” title on a list of temporary government leaders distributed by the new White House last week. Saul announced Thursday that several high-ranking deputies on his team, who had pushed for stricter eligibility for benefits, had been replaced — with labor-friendly Democrats. The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request for comment about the acting title.
Even if he goes the sycophant management will remain. The transition team is just putting in Trump lite team. The horrible appraisal system will stay. Shame
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