ALJ Levinson Removed From Job

    Social Security wanted to fire Administrative Law Judge Michael Levinson of Macon, GA for some very unjudicial conduct. The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has jurisdiction over this kind of matter. An MSPB ALJ decided to suspend Levinson from his job as an ALJ for 2 years and to downgrade him in rank. Both Levinson and Social Security appealed to the full MSPB which changed Levinson's penalty to what Social Security wanted, firing.

    It's a tiny minority of ALJs who behave as Levinson did but we have to get them out of their jobs. I'm shocked that the MSPB ALJ thought that anything less than firing was appropriate. The behavior here was way beyond the pale.

    By the way, Levinson approved claims at a somewhat higher rate than most ALJs. Would things have proceeded differently if Levinson had a low allowance rate?

MSPB Paralyzed

     The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) no longer has any Senate confirmed members, making it unclear whether it can function at all. 

     The only way that Administrative Law Judges may be disciplined is by their employing agency bringing an action before the MSPB. 

     Of course, the MSPB is also supposed to provide federal employees more generally the opportunity for a hearing if they feel that their employing agency has treated them in an illegal way.

     Here's Government Executive's explanation for the lack of confirmed MSPB members:

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has already approved two of President Trump’s nominees to serve at MSPB. Senate Republicans have said they will not vote on those two individuals, however, until Trump nominates a third board member to ensure the board maintains a Republican majority. Trump’s third nominee, Andrew Maunz, withdrew his name from consideration earlier this month. 

     I can't understand why it would be crucial that the MSPB have a Republican majority during the interregnum until another Republican can be confirmed. If there are two members, one a Republican and one a Democrat, there won't be a majority to take any action unless they're in agreement with each other. How can that be worse than having no one confirmed? Shouldn't the MSPB be run in as nonpartisan way as possible? This sad state of affairs may be a sign of just how hyper-partisan the GOP has become.