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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 402', '§ 406', '§ 601', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 403', '§ 403', '§ 403', '§ 403', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 402', '§ 602', '§ 402', '§ 402', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 406', '§ 407', '§ 233']

QUERN V. MANDLEY, 436 U. S. 725 - Volume 436 - 1978 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 436 > QUERN V. MANDLEY, 436 U. S. 725 (1978) > Full Text
3. Neither § 402(a)(10) of the SSA, which makes AFDC, not EA, eligibility criteria mandatory, nor § 406(e), which defines the permissible
These cases require examination of the interplay between state option and federal mandate within the system of cooperative federalism created by the public assistance programs of Title IV-A of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 601 et seq. The ultimate question to be decided is whether a
State may ever receive federal matching funds for a program of emergency assistance to needy families, either under the general program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) [Footnote 1] or under the specific provisions for Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EA), [Footnote 2] if it limits
In 1973, the respondents instituted a class action against state and federal officials on behalf of all "AFDC recipients, applicants for AFDC, and other families with needy children" in Illinois seeking a declaratory judgment that the Illinois EA program violated federal law by defining eligibility more narrowly than 406(e)(1), and an injunction restraining the defendants from administering the allegedly unlawful program. [Footnote 3] The United States District Court for the Northern
Id. at 1068, the Court of Appeals held that the change in funding arrangements did not raise issues beyond the scope of the plaintiffs' pleadings, and did not render the case moot. As the appellate court viewed the situation, the plaintiffs were still claiming, as they always had, that any federally funded program for emergency assistance must conform with the eligibility standards of § 406(e)(1), and that the defendants were still violating the federal law by using federal funds to operate an emergency assistance program that defined eligibility more narrowly than § 406(e)(1). On the merits, the Court of Appeals agreed with the plaintiffs that § 403(a)(5)
The broad injunction ordered by the Court of Appeals raises two distinct statutory questions: whether a program of emergency aid to AFDC families may qualify for federal funding under a provision other than § 403(a)(5), and more particularly as an AFDC "special needs" program under § 403(a)(1); [Footnote 6] and whether a State that adopts an EA program under §§ 403(a)(5) and 406(e) must define eligibility no more narrowly than § 406(e). [Footnote 7] We granted certiorari, 431
As the Court of Appeals readily conceded, its holding in Mandley I that federal eligibility standards are mandatory upon States that adopt the optional EA program in no way obligates a State to continue that program. The federal definition of eligibility in § 406(e), like the other provisions of Title IV of the Social Security Act, simply governs the dispensation of federal funds. See Townsend v. Swank, 404 U. S. 282, 404 U. S. 292 (BURGER, C.J., concurring in result). And while Congress may attach strings to its offer of federal funding, it does not require the States to accept any federal funds at all.
Frequently the special need is a regular or recurring expense, such as medication or a medically indicated diet, but this is not always the case. On the contrary, the 1974 AFDC Survey, supra, reveals that HEW has approved state plans that cover a wide variety of needs under the rubric of "special circumstance items," including one-time emergency needs like
Since Illinois has not, in fact, submitted a proposed special needs program for approval, see n 8, supra, there is no way of knowing whether such a plan would comply in all other respects with the requirements for an AFDC program. But it is clear that a plan to meet certain emergency needs of AFDC recipient -- specifically, actual or threatened loss of shelter due to damage or eviction -- is not necessarily improper as an AFDC special needs program simply because it addresses a
In declaring that Illinois is prohibited from narrowing these broad standards in any way, [Footnote 16] the Court of Appeals relied on
a long line of this Court's cases mapping out the mandatory reach of the AFDC eligibility provisions. As to AFDC, the law is indeed clear. Each State is entirely free to set its own monetary standard of need and level of benefits. King v. Smith, supra at 392 U. S. 334; Dandridge v. Williams, supra, at 397 U. S. 478; Rosado v. Wyman, 397 U.S. at 397 U. S. 408; Jefferson v. Hackney, supra at 406 U. S. 541. [Footnote 17] But the States are not free to narrow the federal standards that define the categories of people eligible for aid. Beginning with King v. Smith, supra, this Court has consistently held that States participating in the AFDC program must make assistance available to all persons who meet the criteria of § 406(a) of the Act. Carleson v. Remillard, 406 U. S. 598; Townsend v. Swank, 404 U. S. 282. See also Lewis v. Martin, 397 U. S. 552. The statutory foundation for this conclusion is § 402(a)(10), which requires that a State's "plan for aid and services to needy families with children" must provide that "aid to families with dependent children shall be furnished with reasonable promptness to all eligible individuals." 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(10).
The Court of Appeals recognized that § 402(a)(10) was limited by its language to AFDC, but nevertheless concluded that Congress intended to treat EA "in the same way" because it is "part of the same statutory scheme," and rooted in the "same Congressional concern with [the] deprivation of children that brought forth the AFDC program. . . ." Mandley I, 523 F.2d at 422. But Congress' choice of precise language in this complex statute cannot be glossed over with such generalities.
Section 402(a) lists some 20 specific requirements for which a state plan "must provide." Some clearly apply to the plan as a whole. These generally concern program administration. E.g., § 402(a)(1) ("provide that it shall be in effect in all
On the other hand, the term "emergency assistance to needy families with children" is defined in § 406(e) as payments and services furnished "in the case of a needy child" who meets certain requirements and is facing destitution. The structure of this statutory provision thus parallels § 406(b) -- i.e., while it describes eligible persons, it is, in terms, a definition of the program for which federal funding is available. But in the EA program, there is no separate provision, parallel to § 406(a), that defines the terms used to describe eligible persons. [Footnote 18] There is no statutory language, therefore, that can reasonably be understood as imposing uniform standards of eligibility on every state EA program. [Footnote 19]
Mandley I, 523 F.2d at 422-423. But this application of the distinction drawn in the AFDC cases between eligibility criteria and financial need standards, see supra at 436 U. S. 740, fundamentally misconceives the purpose of the EA program. A family that is facing destitution because its home has burned down is not helped at all by a "moderate" grant insufficient to see it through the crisis. As the Illinois Director of the Department of Public Aid stated in his report to the Legislative Advisory Committe on Public Aid, the decision in Mandley I created an untenable tension between fiscal and programmatic integrity in the EA system:
The Court of Appeals thought that "the problem of setting workable definitions for the somewhat amorphous eligibility criteria in [§ 406(e) could] be addressed by HEW rulemaking," Mandley I, 523 F.2d at 422423, and indeed required such rulemaking in its Mandley II order. See n 5, supra. The statute does not, however, require the Secretary to promulgate implementing regulations to clarify the scope of § 406(e). Compare § 406(e) with § 407(a) (AFDC-UF). Cf. Batterton v. Francis, 432 U. S. 416. And the regulations in fact adopted by the Secretary interpret the statute as leaving the States with broad discretion as to EA eligibility requirements. 45 CFR § 233.120 (1977). The Secretary's contemporaneous interpretation of the statute is entitled to considerable deference. New York Dept. of Social Services v. Dublino, 413 U. S. 405, 413 U. S. 421. In the absence of an express delegation of authority to the Secretary, there is simply no basis for assuming that Congress intended that he, rather than the States, must make definite -- and mandatory -- the generalized standards of eligibility it wrote into the EA statute. Cf. n 21, infra.
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