Court Opinion

ID: 9487725
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:24:33.800274+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:26.842584
License: Public Domain

FAGG, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I do not believe the record permits my colleagues to impose their compassionate solution on the Secretary. The Secretary’s decision embodies a correct application of the controlling legal principles and is supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole. In these circumstances, the court is not at liberty to reverse the Secretary’s decision “merely because substantial evidence would have supported an opposite decision.” Smith v. Shalala, 987 F.2d 1371, 1374 (8th Cir.1993) (quoting Baker v. Heckler, 730 F.2d 1147, 1150 (8th Cir.1984)). The Secretary’s decision should be affirmed.