Smith v. Berryhill

Smith v. Berryhill
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided May 28, 2019
Full case name	Smith v. Berryhill
Docket no.	17-1606
Citations	587 U.S. ___ (more)
Holding
A Social Security Administration Appeals Council dismissal on timeliness grounds after a claimant has had an ALJ hearing on the merits is a final decision subject to judicial review.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan Neil Gorsuch · Brett Kavanaugh
Case opinion
Majority	Sotomayor, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
42 U.S.C. § 405(g)

Smith v. Berryhill, 587 U.S. ___ (2019), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that a Social Security Administration Appeals Council dismissal on timeliness grounds after a claimant has had an administrative law judge hearing on the merits is a final decision subject to judicial review.^[1][2]

The Social Security Act permits judicial review of "any final decision...after a hearing" by the Social Security Administration (SSA). Claimants for supplemental security income disability benefits under Title XVI of the Act must generally proceed through a four-step administrative process in order to obtain federal-court review: (1) seek an initial determination of eligibility; (2) seek reconsideration of that determination; (3) request a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ); and (4) seek review of the ALJ’s decision by the SSA's Appeals Council. A request for Appeals Council review generally must be made within 60 days of receiving the ALJ’s ruling; if the claimant misses the deadline and cannot show good cause for doing so, the Appeals Council dismisses the request.^[1]

Petitioner Ricky Lee Smith’s claim for disability benefits under Title XVI was denied at the initial-determination stage, upon reconsideration, and on the merits after a hearing before an ALJ. The Appeals Council later dismissed Smith’s request for review as untimely. Smith sought judicial review of the dismissal in a federal district court, which held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, maintaining that the Appeals Council’s dismissal of an untimely petition is not a "final decision" subject to federal-court review.^[1]

• Text of Smith v. Berryhill, No. 17-1606, 587 U.S. ___ (2019) is available from: Justia

This article incorporates written opinion of a United States federal court. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the text is in the public domain.