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Administrative Judges and Decisional Independence in ALJ Systems

Explore the roles and differences between ALJs and AJs, civil service protections, bias issues, and the impact on administrative decision-making. Review key cases like Grant v. Shalala and Wooley v. State Farm Insurance Commission.

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Administrative Judges and Decisional Independence in ALJ Systems

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  1. Chapter 3 Part IV

  2. Administrative Judges and Decisional Independence

  3. ALJ - Administrative Law Judge • Civil Service protections • Cannot be assigned other duties - no cleaning the toilet if the Secretary does not like your rulings • Can have performance goals • Cannot have decisional quotas

  4. AJs - Administrative Judges • Just regular employees with no special protections • Subject to more supervision • Can do many other jobs • Critical in small agencies who do not have enough adjudications to justify a full time ALJ corp • ALJs would like to have AJs eliminated

  5. Grant v. Shalala • What were the causes of the plaintiff’s disability? • What did the ALJ rule? • What was the "secondary gain" the ALJ was criticized for mentioning?

  6. The Bias Claim • What did plaintiff claim was the ALJ's bias? • Why might an ALJ develop this attitude? • Is this an argument for an ALJ corps.? • What did the agency do to investigate her complaint? • Why did the appeals court reject the right to do discovery?

  7. The Central Panel Issue • How is a central panel like the Federal judiciary? • What are the pros and cons of a central pool of administrative law judges? • How might a central pool have its own bias? • What about limiting the right of the agency to appeal the independent ALJ's decision?

  8. Wooley v. State Farm

  9. Insurance Commission • How is the insurance commissioner selected? • Why is he selected this way? • Why is this important in a separation of powers argument? • Has there been trouble in the office?

  10. Division of Administrative Law • When was this created? • Which part of the executive branch controls the agency? • What were the criteria for being an ALJ when the agency was formed? • Does this matter? • Were the decisions binding on the agencies?

  11. How was the law changed in 1999? • How did the change affect the agency's ability to set policy? • How does this shift the balance of power between the different parts of the executive branch? • What is the political control over ALJs?

  12. Affect on the Courts • Does the law say that the courts cannot review ALJ decisions? • Which ALJ decisions escape the reach of the courts? • Why? • What is the separation of powers issue?

  13. The District Court Opinion • Putting aside the law, what really seemed to annoy the judge about the ALJs? • What do you think about this? • What did the District Court rule about the separation of powers issues?

  14. Bias in Administrative Decisionmaking • Why is the chance for bias greater than with Article III judges? • Why do we worry less about bias in agency adjudications? • This is critical to understanding the approach • How does the rule of necessity and Matthews v. Eldridge figure in the analysis? • How would you analyze the effect of the current LA system on bias and its remedies?

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