Currently, there is a big political push to take judicial independence away from Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) in presiding over social security disability decisions.
Before you jump to conclusions, be aware that both sides can appeal an ALJ's decision, but each must prove an abuse of discretion. This allows the judge independence from political, economic, and cultural influences to approve or disprove a claim, but still allows an appeal when it’s clear a judge was out of line.
Also, be aware that due to the complexity of such decisions, for better or for worse, you are going to have statistical differences between judges who are fallible human beings, no matter what you do. To think otherwise is to live in a fantasy. Some will be more conservative, some will be more liberal.
The current argument is mostly based on the percentage of claims approved. What do the raw statistics indicate? Nothing. They bear no information about the merits of the case at all, one way or another. All the attention at the current moment is on those with the highest approval rates. What does it mean? Probably the chips are down, economically, for the country, and nothing else. However, maybe it means that they are too easily bamboozled by a boob's sob story, and that some of the cases they approved (that were “iffy”) should have been denied. But you can't tell that by statistics.
What about those with the lowest approval rates? What does that mean? Probably, it means they are honestly more conservative regarding what they think others can do despite their health problems. However, maybe it means that they have little tiny hearts made out of dry ice and that some of the cases they disapproved (that were “iffy”) should have been approved.
Who is right? How do you fix it, if anything needs to be fixed?
While there are plenty of judges with whom I don’t particularly agree, and who, I think, turn down my cases too often, I would never want their independence taken away, because I know it would be worse when unknown, unseen, and uncontrolled political forces were calling the shots.
So, be careful for what you wish. History starts now. You don't want to be the person who is told, "Sorry, I turned you down because my percentages this month were too high."
Loren M. Lambert © December 27, 2013
Before you jump to conclusions, be aware that both sides can appeal an ALJ's decision, but each must prove an abuse of discretion. This allows the judge independence from political, economic, and cultural influences to approve or disprove a claim, but still allows an appeal when it’s clear a judge was out of line.
Also, be aware that due to the complexity of such decisions, for better or for worse, you are going to have statistical differences between judges who are fallible human beings, no matter what you do. To think otherwise is to live in a fantasy. Some will be more conservative, some will be more liberal.
The current argument is mostly based on the percentage of claims approved. What do the raw statistics indicate? Nothing. They bear no information about the merits of the case at all, one way or another. All the attention at the current moment is on those with the highest approval rates. What does it mean? Probably the chips are down, economically, for the country, and nothing else. However, maybe it means that they are too easily bamboozled by a boob's sob story, and that some of the cases they approved (that were “iffy”) should have been denied. But you can't tell that by statistics.
What about those with the lowest approval rates? What does that mean? Probably, it means they are honestly more conservative regarding what they think others can do despite their health problems. However, maybe it means that they have little tiny hearts made out of dry ice and that some of the cases they disapproved (that were “iffy”) should have been approved.
Who is right? How do you fix it, if anything needs to be fixed?
While there are plenty of judges with whom I don’t particularly agree, and who, I think, turn down my cases too often, I would never want their independence taken away, because I know it would be worse when unknown, unseen, and uncontrolled political forces were calling the shots.
So, be careful for what you wish. History starts now. You don't want to be the person who is told, "Sorry, I turned you down because my percentages this month were too high."
Loren M. Lambert © December 27, 2013
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