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     After the Supreme Court held in Lucia v. SEC that Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) as then appointed were unconstitutional, there was the inevitable issue of which Social Security claimants would get new hearings. The Social Security Administration argued that the issue had to have been raised before the Administrative Law Judge or at least before the Appeals Council. They have now given up on the argument that Lucia had to have been raised before the ALJ and have remanded all of the cases where the Lucia issue was raised at least before the Appeals Council. The issue of whether the issue had to have been raised at least before the Appeals Council is being litigated in the federal courts.       We have our first Court of Appeals opinions in one of the post- Lucia Social Security cases, Cirko v. Commissioner , a Third Circuit case. Social Security lost. The Court held that it did not matter that the Lucia issue wasn't raised until a...

     From Bloomberg Law : A former attorney adviser with the Social Security Administration convinced the Federal Circuit Nov. 7 that his veteran status was a substantially motivating factor in the agency�s 2011 decision to fire him. As a qualifying veteran hired by a government agency, Clarence McGuffin was entitled to a shorter probationary period than other non-veteran new hires before the full suite of Civil Service Reform Act rights vested. Those rights include the right to appeal adverse employment actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board....  �We want to terminate him so that he does not acquire MSPB rights,� read one intra-agency email quoted in the opinion. Another email stated that McGuffin was a �vet� who �has to be terminated in his first year.� ... McGuffin was let go from his attorney adviser position in SSA�s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review in part because he allegedly wasn�t producing his �fair share� of work, a mo...