Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare V. Wright Et Al. 405 U.S. 208 (1972)

Re: Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare v. Wright et al. 405 U.S. 208 (1972)

Facts of the case:

Richardson, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, adopted new regulations, effective December 27, 1971, governing the procedures to be followed by the Social Security Administration in determining whether to suspend or terminate disability benefits (Richardson v. Wright). The procedures include the requirement that a recipient of benefits be given notice of a proposed suspension and the reasons therfor, plus an opportunity to submit rebuttal evidence. The new regulations omitted pre termination hearings. The District court held section 225 of the Social Security Act unconstitutional, as it authorized the Secretary to suspend the payment of social security disability benefits without giving prior notice and an opportunity to participate to the disability beneficiary and the court remanded the cause to the Secretary for the formulation of new procedures consistent with its opinion (Richardson v. Wright). The case is appealed to the Supreme Court where Secretary insists that Goldberg does not apply because discontinuing disability benefits is different from discontinuing welfare benefits because welfare can be brought to attention by tips, rumor, or gossip. Secretary also argues that welfare can be subjective while disability is objective

Key Issues:

The key issue in this case is whether disability benefits can be discontinued or suspended without a pre-termination hearing.

Holding:

The case was vacated and remanded. The Court vacated the judgment of the District Court for the District of Columbia with direction to the court to remand the cause to the Secretary and to retain jurisdiction for such other proceedings, if any, as may be necessary upon completion of the administrative procedure ( Richardson v. Wright).

Reasoning:

The Court reasoned that, “in light of the adoption of new regulations providing that a recipient of...