ALJ Error Disability Benefits.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

United States Supreme Court

Case Name: Ricky Lee Smith v. Nancy A. Berryhill

Case No.: 17-1606

Focus: ALJ Error Disability Benefits

The Social Security Act allows for judicial review of "any final decision . . . made after a hearing" by the Social Security Administration (SSA). 42 U. S. C. 405(g). Petitioner Ricky Lee Smith was denied Social Security benefits after a hearing by an administrative law judge (ALJ) and later had his appeal from that denial dismissed as untimely by the SSA's Appeals Councilthe agency's final decisionmaker. This case asks whether the Appeals Council's dismissal of Smith's claim is a "final decision . . . made after a hearing" so as to allow judicial review under 405(g). We hold that it...