Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/566/11-159/opinion3.html
Timestamp: 2016-05-05 03:12:02
Document Index: 101741441

Matched Legal Cases: ['§416', '§416', '§416', '§416', '§416', '§402', '§416']

Astrue v. Capato :: 566 U.S. ___ (2012) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
› Astrue v. Capato
Astrue v. Capato 566 U.S. ___ (2012)
Congress amended the Social Security Act in 1939 to provide a monthly benefit for designated surviving fam- ily members of a deceased insured wage earner. “Child’s insurance benefits” are among the Act’s family-protective measures. 53Stat.
An applicant for child benefits who does not meet §416(h)(2)(A)’s intestacy-law criterion may nonetheless qualify for benefits under one of several other criteria the Act prescribes. First, an applicant who “is a son or daughter” of an insured individual, but is not determined to be a “child” under the intestacy-law provision, nevertheless ranks as a “child” if the insured and the other parent went through a marriage ceremony that would have been valid but for certain legal impediments. §416(h)(2)(B). Further, an applicant is deemed a “child” if, before death, the insured acknowledged in writing that the applicant is his or her son or daughter, or if the insured had been decreed by a court to be the father or mother of the applicant, or had been ordered to pay child support. §416(h)(3)(C)(i). In addition, an applicant may gain “child” status upon proof that the insured individual was the applicant’s pa- rent and “was living with or contributing to the support of the applicant” when the insured individual died. §416(h)(3)(C)(ii).
Applicants not in fact dependent on the insured individual may be “deemed dependent” when the Act so provides. For example, a “legitimate” child, even if she is not living with or receiving support fromher parent, is ordinarily “deemed dependent” on that parent. . Further, applicants “deemed” the child of an insured individual under §416(h)(2)(B) or (h)(3) are also “deemed legitimate,” hence dependent, even if not living with or receiving support fromthe parent. §402(d)(3). See also Mathews v. Lucas, (deeming dependent any child who qualifies under §416(h)(2)(A)); Tr. of Oral Arg. 13–14 (counsel for the SSA stated, in response to the Court’s question, that statutory presumptions of dependency are irrebuttable).
Because the Court of Appeals found the statutory language unambiguous, it had no occasion to “determine whether the [SSA’s] interpretation is a permissible construction of the statute.” 631 F. 3d, at 631, n. 5 (citing Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., –843 (1984)).
Ironically, while drawing an analogy to the “illogical and unjust” discrimination children born out of wedlock encounter, see Weber v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., –176 (1972), respondent asks us to differentiate between children whose parents were married and children whose parents’ liaisons were not blessed by clergy or the State. She would eliminate the intestacy test only for biological children of married parents.