Spiva v. Astrue’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 federal appellate ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 77 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The government seems to think that if it can find enough evidence in the record to establish that the administrative law judge might have reached the same result had she considered all the evidence and evaluated it as the government's brief does, it is a case of harmless error. But the fact that the administrative law judge, had she considered the entire record, might have reached the same result does not prove that her failure to consider the evidence was harmless. Had she considered it carefully, she might well have reached a different conclusion.”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Constance S. v. Saul · 384 F. Supp. 3d 928 - Heather M. v. Berryhill

2. “(1) opinions of administrative law judges denying benefits routinely state (with some variations in wording) that although “the claimant’s medically determinable impairments could reasonably be expected to produce the alleged symptoms, ... the claimant’s statements concerning the intensity, persistence and limiting effects of these symptoms are not entirely credible,” yet fail to indicate which statements are not credible and what exactly “not entirely” is meant to signify; (2) many of the Social Security Administration’s administrative law judges seem poorly informed about mental illness; and (3) in defiance of the principle of SEC v. Chenery Corp., 318 U.S. 80 , 87-88, 63 S.Ct. 454 , 87 L.Ed. 626 (1943), the Justice Department’s lawyers who defend denials of disability benefits often rely heavily on evidence not (so far as appears) relied on by the administrative law judge, and defend the tactic by invoking an overbroad conception of harmless error.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Martinez v. Astrue · 4 F. Supp. 3d 958 - Nimmerrichter v. Colvin

3. “The administrative law judge's reference to Spiva's failing to take his medications ignores one of the most serious problems in the treatment of mental illness-the difficulty of keeping patients on their medications. The drugs used to treat schizophrenia, for example, can make a patient feel drowsy and stunned.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 295 F. Supp. 3d 899 - Pulley v. Berryhill