An Interesting 4th Circuit Opinion

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an interesting opinion last week in the case of Mascio v. Colvin. Here are a few excerpts:


Here,
the ALJ has
determined
what functions he believes
Mascio can perform, but
his
opinion is sorely lacking in
the
analysis
needed
for us to review
meaningfully
those conclusions.
In particular, although the ALJ concluded that Mascio can
perform

21 Month Sentence For Former Social Security Employee

From the Dallas Morning News:


A former Social Security Administration employee was sentenced Friday to 21 months in federal prison for accessing the agency’s electronic databases to steal government money, the U.S. attorney’s office said.



Carwin Shaw, 33, of Arlington, was also ordered to pay $78,165 in restitution for his role in the scheme. ...



He also caused unauthorized

White House Criticizes GOP Effort To Force Social Security Showdown

From TPM:


A top adviser to President Barack Obama on
Friday slammed a House Republican maneuver aimed at forcing a showdown
on Social Security as early as next year, signaling that it won't fly
with the White House.




"The House provision was un-constructive and at odds with how this
issue has been addressed time and time again in a bipartisan manner,"
Brian Deese, senior advisor

ALJ Sues Over Alleged Discrimination

From the Portland (Maine) Press Herald:


A judge who rules on disability cases for the Social Security
Administration has sued the federal agency, accusing her supervisors of
age and gender discrimination and retaliating against her for filing
complaints about her treatment.

Administrative Law Judge Katherine Morgan, one of seven judges in the
Office of Disability Adjudication and

New Regulations On Submission Of Evidence

Social Security is publishing new regulations in the Federal Register on the submission of evidence tomorrow. You can read them today.

Some Questions: What's the enforcement mechanism for these requirements? If there's no enforcement mechanism, is this anything more than precatory language? As vague as these regulations are, even if there is an enforcement mechanism, is it practical

Empty Threats

In the narrative explanation of its budget proposal, the House Budget Committee says that "There should be no
raiding of the Social Security retirement
program to bailout another, currently unsustainable
program." The "unsustainable program" it's talking about is Social Security disability which has its own Disability Trust Fund separate from the Retirement and Survivors Trust Fund. Since

Doesn't Seem Fair

From BuzzFeed:


Two legal nonprofit groups filed a class action lawsuit against the
Social Security Administration Tuesday for its treatment of married
same-sex couples after the Supreme Court struck down a federal law that
prevented the federal government from recognizing their marriages.

For almost a year after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of
Marriage Act as