Juatassa Sims v. Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security (530 U.S. 103)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 5, 2000 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 530 U.S. 103 · 120 S. Ct. 2080
- Decided
- June 5, 2000
- Term
- October Term 1999
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I and II-A, and an opinion with respect to Part II-B, in which Justice Stevens, Justice Souter, and Justice Ginsburg join. A person whose claim for Social Security benefits is denied by an administrative law judge (ALJ) must in most cases, before seeking judicial review of that denial, request that the Social Security Appeals Council review his claim. The question is whether a claimant pursuing judicial review has waived any issues that he did not include in that request. We hold that he has not. I In 1994, petitioner Juatassa Sims filed applications for disability benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, 49 Stat. 622, 42 U. S. C. §401 et seq., and for supplemental security income benefits under Title XVI of that Act, 86 Stat. 1465, 42 U. S. C. § 1881 et seq. She alleged disability from a variety of ailments, including degenerative joint diseases and carpal tunnel syndrome. After a state agency denied her claims, she obtained a hearing before a Social Security ALJ. See generally Heckler v. Day, 467 U. S. 104, 106-107 (1984) (describing stages of review of elaims for Social Security benefits). The ALJ, in 1996, also denied her elaims, concluding that, although she did have some medical impairments, she had not been and was not under a “disability,” as…
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