Recommendation 2013-3 – Science in the Administrative Process promotes transparency in agencies’ scientific decision-making, including: articulation of questions to be informed by science information; attribution for agency personnel who contributed to scientific analyses; public access to underlying data and literature; and conflict of interest disclosures for privately funded research used by the agencies in licensi
Recommendation 2016-6 – Self-Represented Parties in Administrative Proceedings offers best practices for agencies dealing with self-represented parties in administrative hearings. Recommendations include the use of triage and diagnostic tools, development of a continuum of services to aid parties, and re-evaluation and simplification of existing hearing practices, where possible.
Recommendation 2018-2 – Severability in Agency Rulemaking, formerly titled Minimizing the Cost of Judicial Review, encourages federal agencies that anticipate litigation over their rules to consider early in the rulemaking process whether a rule is severable—that is, divisible into portions that can and should function independently. It also identifies steps agencies should take if th
In April 2018, the President signed into law the “Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018” following its unanimous passage in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives (
Based on a survey of the entire United States Code, the Sourcebook (available here) comprehensively analyzes more than 650 statutory provisions that govern how federal courts review agency rules and orders.
The Administrative Conference undertook a project to examine the agencies and other organizational entities of the federal executive establishment, including independent agencies. The resulting report catalogues a comprehensive set of characteristics for each entity, including structure (e.g., commission or single-head agency, internal organization), personnel (e.g., number and types of appointed positions, limitations on removal), decis
In December 2018, the Administrative Conference published a second edition of the Sourcebook of United States Executive Agencies. The Administrative Conference previously undertook a project to examine the agencies and other organizational entities of the federal executive establishment, including independent agencies, and published the
Recommendation 2016-3 – Special Procedural Rules for Social Security Litigation in District Court encourages the Judicial Conference of the United States to develop a uniform set of procedural rules for cases under the Social Security Act in which an individual seeks district court review of a final administrative decision of the Commissioner of Social Security pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).
At the request of the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Office of the Chairman studied the duty of candor and the submission of all evidence in Social Security disability claims. The resulting report briefly reviews and summarizes the Social Security Act and SSA’s current regulations and practices regarding the duty of candor and the submission of all evidence. It also reviews requirements from other tribunals, the Fed