Court Opinion

ID: 9466877
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:31:21.978104+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:01.514877
License: Public Domain

SLOVITER, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I agree with the result in this case and concur in Parts I, IV, V and VI of the opinion. I share Judge Hunter’s concern about an administrative process characterized, as this one was, by unreasonable delay. However, we are constrained to avoid passing upon a constitutional question if the case might be disposed of on statutory grounds, Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 543, 94 S.Ct. 1372, 1382, 39 L.Ed.2d 577 (1974) and we should not reach to decide a constitutional issue, however intriguing.
The holding in Parts IV and V of this opinion is that the procedures used by the Board violate its own regulations. These serious defects would require, at a minimum, a reversal and remand. Because we also find in Part VI that there was no substantial evidence to support the Board’s decision that Kelly was not disabled, we direct the allowance of disability benefits. In light of this posture of the case, I see no reason to reach the due process issue discussed in Parts II and III.