Court Opinion

ID: 9467196
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:41:26.777504+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:13.292445
License: Public Domain

JAMES C. HILL, Circuit Judge,
concurring specially:
I concur specially in the result reached by the majority but wish to point out several troublesome aspects of the case and the majority’s handling of it. The appellees have argued persuasively that there is a need to verify information supplied by food stamp recipients to program administrators in Florida by suggesting in their brief that fraud may be involved in as many as 40 percent of all food stamp cases. The type of verification that appellees sought to conduct was fairly standard; ostensibly, it was no more intrusive or violative of privacy than typical verification procedures used by banks in approving loan applicants or employers in considering job applicants. While such a procedure might reveal fraud, or even deter fraud, I would not conclude, as does the majority, that the households whose entitlements were being verified “were subjected to criminal investigations,” ante, at 1205-1206.
Although it would seem that a verification procedure such as that urged by appel*1215lees would ultimately benefit those persons truly in need of food stamps and legally entitled to them,1 it is clear that the desirability of such a procedure is not an issue for our determination. Our function is to determine whether, under the laws passed by Congress and under the regulations properly promulgated by the various administrative agencies, this type of verification procedure can be undertaken. I conclude, along with the majority, see ante, at 1208-1211, that Congress through the Food Stamp Act, 7 U.S.C. §§ 2011-2027 (1976), and the Department of Agriculture though its regulations, e.g. 7 C.F.R. § 272 (1979), have precluded the action that appellees seek to take.
The results reported to us at oral argument, see note 1 supra, suggest that further study of the legislative policy involved in this case is warranted. But if another course is to be chosen, the fine men and women who have been elected to represent the people are quite competent to the task. The judiciary should neither assume the responsibility nor usurp authority not delegated to it. See Wilson v. First Houston Investment Corp., 566 F.2d 1235, 1244 (5th Cir. 1978) (Hill, J. dissenting).

. We were advised at oral argument that in one county involved verification procedures were conducted in a total of 350 cases. Of those, 61 arrests for fraud in procurement of food stamps resulted. The conviction rate was said to be approximately 90-91 percent.