Opinion ID: 1449014
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Organizational Structure of DHHS

Text: DHHS next argues that its organizational structure is in no way unconstitutional for the following reasons: (1) the adjudication complied with the Administrative Procedures Act; (2) there was no ex parte communication; (3) there was no unethical conduct; (4) the ALJ had no personal interest in the adjudication; (5) no one in the ALJ's supervisory chain made an appearance in the course of the adjudication; (6) no one that the ALJ supervises made an appearance in the course of the adjudication; and (7) no staff organizationally located within the Office of Appeals and Hearings made an appearance in the course of the adjudication. R.C. responds that because ALJs are part of DHHS's Office of Chief Counsel and are subordinate to the chief counsel, the statutory and regulatory scheme of DHHS's administrative process violates federal and state constitutional due-process rights. She avers that because the ALJ works for the chief counsel, who is the prosecutor, no ALJ in the DHHS system can be fair or even have the appearance of fairness. This precise issue was recently decided by this court in C.C.B. v. Arkansas Department of Health & Human Services, 368 Ark. 540, 247 S.W.3d 870 (2007). There, we held that an allegation regarding the appearance of impropriety, based on the fact that the ALJ and prosecutor were employees of the same agency seeking to keep the alleged maltreater on the child-maltreatment registry, standing alone, was insufficient to demonstrate bias or even an appearance of bias. We further held that the appellant had not demonstrated that he was denied due process under either the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, nor Article 2, § 8 of the Arkansas Constitution. In the instant case, the ALJ denied R.C.'s motion to hold the procedures of DHHS unconstitutional. For the reasons previously set forth in C.C.B. v. Arkansas Department of Health & Human Services, supra , we affirm the ALJ's denial of R.C.'s motion and reverse the circuit court on this point.