We could - we haven't. We probably should - we haven't.
Its also worth noting that these decisions by administrative judges are already reviewable by appellate courts.
There are over 1900 administrative law judges. There are around 900 TOTAL Article III juges, including appellate courts.
Finally, I'll note that (my opinion) whether people think this is a good idea should be held independent of the fact that most of these arguments are being raised in bad faith by people with more power to avoid the legal process not so they can meaningfully avail themselves of it.
The overwhelming majority of ALJs are in the Social Security Administration dealing with claim disputes. I don’t think anyone has a problem with that, and we can leave them alone.
The NLRB, SEC, FTC. These cases belong in a real Article III court. Once we solve this issue, people can’t raise it in bad faith anymore to weasel out of consequences. Every litigant wants to win, and I agree that they are raising these issues to attack proceedings that they might lose on the merits.
I believe it was Justice Kagan who said last term that there are a finite number of Constitutional issues with agency structure. Let’s just fix them all now.
>I don’t think anyone has a problem with that, and we can leave them alone.
The NLRB, SEC, FTC. These cases belong in a real Article III court.
So in other words, its a judgement question which should be left up to the legislature? What is the constitutional basis for that differentiation? The only difference I can see is a comfort subjecting individuals to this process and a discomfort subjecting corporations to it.
The difference is that the Social Security Administration is administering a public benefit which has no analogy to a suit at common law. But we need Congress to fix this regardless. The Supreme Court can break it but can’t fix it.
Its also worth noting that these decisions by administrative judges are already reviewable by appellate courts.
There are over 1900 administrative law judges. There are around 900 TOTAL Article III juges, including appellate courts.
Finally, I'll note that (my opinion) whether people think this is a good idea should be held independent of the fact that most of these arguments are being raised in bad faith by people with more power to avoid the legal process not so they can meaningfully avail themselves of it.