“Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. It includes judges nominated in both his first and second terms.
Judge Ryan Nelson, who was nominated by Donald Trump to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, cast the deciding vote to reject a worker’s Social Security disability claim. The January 2025 decision was in Mackey v Colvin.
What happened in this case?
Kimberly Mackey applied for social security disability payments, contending that she is unable to work due to severe anxiety, myalgia, and pain. Despite evidence from her treating physicians in support of her application, her claim was rejected by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and a district court. She appealed to the Ninth Circuit, but the lower court ruling was affirmed in a split decision in which Trump judge Nelson cast the deciding vote.
Judge Marsha Berzon, who was nominated by President Clinton, strongly dissented. She explained that the ALJ’s determination that Mackey had “residual capacity” to do some work was simply not supported by “substantial evidence.” The ALJ, she went on, gave “little to no weight to the opinions of all of Mackey’s treating providers,” as well as most who examined her. She noted that the ALJ asserted that the opinions of three treating doctors were “unsupported, ignoring volumes of these providers’ treatment notes” documenting Mackey’s problems.
Why was the decision by Judge Nelson and the Ninth Circuit harmful?
The ruling made possible by Judge Nelson is obviously harmful to Kimberly Mackey. It also undermines the important principle that the opinions of treating physicians should get considerable weight in disability cases, which threatens to harm others suffering from disability, particularly in the Ninth Circuit, which includes California, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.The decision illustrates the importance of our federal courts to health, welfare and justice and the significance of having fair-minded judges on the federal bench.