POTUS Changes Administrative Law Judge Hiring Process

President Donald Trump changed the appointment process for administrative law judges on Tuesday with an executive order that puts the power with federal agency heads or the president himself.

Issued as he flew to the NATO summit in Brussels, the order follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that decided administrative law judges of the Securities and Exchange Commission are subject to the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

In the Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the justices held the administrative law judge who handed down a fine on an investor was not constitutionally appointed.  The ruling put in doubt the constitutionality of other administrative law judges and opened up potentially thousands of cases to be re-litigated.

The White House framed the executive order as a solution to “ongoing legal uncertainty over administrative law judge appointments and authority” and allowing “the enforcement of dozens of important laws protecting Americans.

The order also serves as an “important step in preempting arguments going forward that administrative law judges have been unconstitutionally selected and that their decisions should be overturned.”

Courthouse News Service July 11th, 2018

Erasing The Illusion