Some experts, like Kenneth C. Davis, object to the title change because he says it obscures the true role they play. Their decisions can be overruled by agency chiefs and others so they are not really like judges. The Social Security Agency has an Appeals Council where A.L.J. decisions can be appealed before being taken into the regular court system. Students with any legal training usually go ballistic when they find out that hearsay evidence is permissible in adjudications. It is largely excluded in the regular courts although there are exceptions like death-bed confessions.
Hearsay evidence is indirect evidence.
Someone told me that John Doe pulled the trigger for example. In regular court you have to find the someone to testify and be cross-examined, no one can simply relay the comment. Hearsay evidence is fine in adjudication. Consider that the issue in adjudication is usually not an eyewitness to an event or a crime. All the evidence is going to be largely opinion anyway, hearsay evidence can add to the process.