Task: sc_issuearea

What follows is an opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States. Your task is to determine the issue area of the Court's decision. Determine the issue area on the basis of the Court's own statements as to what the case is about. Focus on the subject matter of the controversy rather than its legal basis. In specifying the issue in a legacy case, choose the one that best accords with what today's Court would consider it to be. Choose among the following issue areas: "Criminal Procedure" encompasses the rights of persons accused of crime, except for the due process rights of prisoners. "Civil rights" includes non-First Amendment freedom cases which pertain to classifications based on race (including American Indians), age, indigency, voting, residency, military or handicapped status, gender, and alienage. "First Amendment encompasses the scope of this constitutional provision, but do note that it need not involve the interpretation and application of a provision of the First Amendment. For example, if the case only construe a precedent, or the reviewability of a claim based on the First Amendment, or the scope of an administrative rule or regulation that impacts the exercise of First Amendment freedoms. "Due process" is limited to non-criminal guarantees. "Privacy" concerns libel, comity, abortion, contraceptives, right to die, and Freedom of Information Act and related federal or state statutes or regulations. "Attorneys" includes attorneys' compensation and licenses, along with trhose of governmental officials and employees. "Unions" encompass those issues involving labor union activity. "Economic activity" is largely commercial and business related; it includes tort actions and employee actions vis-a-vis employers. "Judicial power" concerns the exercise of the judiciary's own power. "Federalism" pertains to conflicts and other relationships between the federal government and the states, except for those between the federal and state courts. "Federal taxation" concerns the Internal Revenue Code and related statutes. "Private law" relates to disputes between private persons involving real and personal property, contracts, evidence, civil procedure, torts, wills and trusts, and commercial transactions. Prior to the passage of the Judges' Bill of 1925 much of the Court's cases concerned such issues. Use "Miscellaneous" for legislative veto and executive authority vis-a-vis congress or the states.

Per Curiam.
The motion of appellee Amos for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is granted.
A three-judge District Court has enjoined New Jersey-officials from enforcing a state regulation applicable to payments under the federally financed program for Aid to Families With Dependent Children, Title IV of the Social Security Act of 1935, 49 Stat. 627, as amended, 42 U. S. C. §§ 601-610:
The regulation in question, § 615 of the New Jersey Categorical Assistance Budget Manual, would deny AFDC benefits to the extent that a family’s “total available adjusted income,” calculated without deduction for the “income disregards” specified by § 402 (a) (8) of the federal Act, 42 U. S. C. §602 (a)(8), exceeds a ceiling specified by the State. The regulation is challenged on the grounds (1) that it is in conflict with § 402 (a) (8), and (2) that it fails to provide that, in the calculation of earned family income which is to be compared with the § 615 ceiling, a stepfather’s earnings are not to be taken into account unless they are “actually available” for the current use of the dependent child, 45 CFR § 233.20 (a) (3) (ii). It was also suggested in the proceedings below that § 615.5 of the state regulation conflicts with § 406 (b) of the federal Act, 42 U. S. C. § 606 (b), when it authorizes payments directly to vendors who provide goods or services to beneficiaries.
The District Court upheld the challenge on all three grounds. Judgment was entered enjoining the enforcement of § 615 “insofar as it violates the federal statute” and ordering that New Jersey “revise the regulation to conform to the federal statute.” The state officials appeal.
The appellants and also the United States, in its amicus curiae brief, appropriately point out that there is nothing in the federal statute that prohibits a State from making vendor payments so long as they are made from state funds without federal matching. The statute, § 406, merely does not provide for reimbursement to the State for payments of that kind. We agree with these observations by the appellants and the amicus, and thus disagree with the District Court’s conclusion with respect to direct payments insofar as those payments are made entirely with state funds not reimbursable under § 406 of the federal Act. With this limitation in the application of its general language, the judgment of the District Court is affirmed.

Question: What is the issue area of the decision?
A. Criminal Procedure
B. Civil Rights
C. First Amendment
D. Due Process
E. Privacy
F. Attorneys
G. Unions
H. Economic Activity
I. Judicial Power
J. Federalism
K. Interstate Relations
L. Federal Taxation
M. Miscellaneous
N. Private Action
Answer:

Answer: B