## Facts

- Ricky Lee Smith applied for Title XVI supplemental security income (SSI) disability benefits.
- The Social Security Administration denied the claim at the initial and reconsideration stages.
- After a hearing on the merits, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) denied benefits.
- Smith sought Appeals Council review of the ALJ decision but filed outside the required deadline.
- The Appeals Council dismissed Smith’s request as untimely, finding no good cause for the late filing.
- Under agency regulations, an Appeals Council dismissal ends the administrative review process.

## Issues

1. Whether an Appeals Council dismissal of a request for review as untimely, after the claimant has received an ALJ hearing on the merits, is a “final decision … made after a hearing” reviewable in federal court under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the Sixth Circuit and remanded.
- The Court held that an Appeals Council dismissal on timeliness grounds, following an ALJ hearing on the merits, is a “final decision … made after a hearing” within § 405(g).
- Because the dismissal is the agency’s last word under its regulations, federal courts have jurisdiction to review it.

## Legal Principles

- The “any final decision” language in § 405(g) is broad and covers terminal agency actions identified as final under the agency’s regulations.
- The “made after a hearing” requirement is satisfied when the claimant previously received an ALJ hearing on the merits; the final decisionmaker need not conduct an additional hearing.
- Section 405(g) does not limit judicial review to agency decisions resolving the merits; procedural terminations that end the administrative process can be reviewable.
- Denying review of Appeals Council timeliness dismissals would leave claimants without judicial scrutiny of potentially erroneous determinations that bar access to federal court.

## Conclusion

An Appeals Council dismissal of a claimant’s request for review as untimely, where the claimant already had an ALJ merits hearing, constitutes a reviewable “final decision … made after a hearing” under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).


Smith v. Berryhill, 139 S. Ct. 1765 (2019)