Comment from Williams, Christopher , Association of Administrative Law Judges

This comment relates to the push to change the regulations to allow the Social Security Administration, instead of administrative law judges, to set the time and date of hearings for certain judges who have not met Agency goals for hearings. In doing so, the Agency would usurp the traditional right of judges under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 551, et seq., to take cases assigned to them through the development process before scheduling them. The change would adversely impact those who have no medical documentation of substance by denying the judge time to schedule sufficient development and would lead to abuse in the name of speedier hearings by providing diminished due process. In short, the Agency would literally take over the development process. Additionally, the Agency could schedule hearings with too little time to develop the record or to obtain experts to assist in the development of the record on the record. Lastly, this proposal fails to take into account staffing shortages among those who assist judges, a fact noted by SSA's own Inspector General. Representatives who assist claimants in this entire process should be concerned about the potential impact of this proposed change. Just scheduling cases does not remedy the underlying problems that the Social Security Administration has failed to deal with. I would respectfully suggest that this aspect of the backlog (which follows the failed HPI program) should be dealt with on a individual basis with those judges who cannot make their goal, instead of a regulatory fiat which lessens the already diminished authority of all sitting administrative law judges. Like the Agency’s recent attempt to deprive judges of MSPB due process, this new regulatory change is a misguided, at best, attempt.