Judges' Union: Supreme Court Decision an 'Excuse' to Politicize ALJs

The Association of Administrative Law Judges denounced the Trump administration’s recent executive order removing the judges from the competitive hiring process, calling it an effort to politicize a segment of the civil service. Last week, President Trump signed an executive order moving the hiring of administrative law judges out of the competitive service and into the excepted service, giving agency heads much broader discretion in the judges' qualifications and appointment. White House officials said the edict was a necessity after the Supreme Court ruled in Lucia. v. Securities and Exchange Commission that ALJs are “inferior officers” under the Constitution, and thus subject to the appointments clause of the Constitution.