Trump Executive Order Changes How Federal Agency Judges Are Hired

There's quiet things happening that make no headlines. Even Smart Dissent's team which consumes the news nonstop can miss something minor like this.  There will be no rallies for this issue but it's important to realize just how much is being changed by Trump's cronies.

Trump has issued an executive order that gives federal agencies far more latitude over hiring administrative law judges. These judges handle a wide variety of disputes that include everything from Medicare claims to civil service employment issues.

Previously, administrative law judges had to complete an exam and undergo a competitive selection process.  But Trump's executive order....turns these judges into political appointees.

So much for Republican's touting small government and merit-based policies.

....critics are decrying the order as yet another example of executive overreach.   Stephen Vladeck, an expert on administrative law at the University of Texas law school.... questions whether the federal government will require any basic competency for the judges. And, worse, he worries about biases in hiring.

"The real concern becomes that you're going to have administrative law judges in these agencies who are either there because they're deeply sympathetic to the regulated industries, or because they're deeply hostile to the regulated industries," said Vladeck. "Either way you lose the veneer of independent adjudication on which so much of the modern administrative state rests."

Source: https://www.npr.org/2018/07/10/627826602/trump-changes-how-federal-agency-in-house-judges-are-hired