Presiding officer
What is a federal administrative adjudicator? Federal administrative adjudicators are federal government officials who preside over administrative hearings and proceedings in a process called adjudication. These officials can be divided into two categories: administrative law judges (ALJs) and non-ALJ adjudicators, sometimes referred to as administrative judges (AJs). Although many of these officials have the word judge in their job title, administrative adjudicators are part of the executive rather than the judicial branch. They are not judges as described in Article III of the Constitution. |
Administrative State |
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Presiding officer is a title used by some federal government agencies to refer to the administrative adjudicators they employ. Presiding officers are one type of non-ALJ adjudicator (sometimes collectively referred to as administrative judges). These adjudicators preside over administrative hearings and proceedings in a process called adjudication. They have a variety of responsibilities and titles depending on the agency that employs them and their caseload.[1]
Non-ALJs conduct informal adjudication proceedings, which may involve a hearing or a written process. Unlike administrative law judges (ALJs), non-ALJ adjudicators are not covered by the Administrative Procedure Act and their positions are not standardized across the government. Their work, titles, qualifications, and pay vary substantially. Non-ALJs conduct the majority of adjudication proceedings.[1]
There were more than 10,000 non-ALJ adjudicators working at various federal agencies at the time of a February 2018 study, which contained the most recent comprehensive data available as of March 2024. The largest employers of non-ALJs at the time of the 2018 study were the Patent and Trademark Office at the Department of Commerce (7,856 patent examiners), the Internal Revenue Service (714 non-ALJs), the Department of Veterans Affairs (630 non-ALJs), National Labor Relations Board (600 non-ALJs), and the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the Department of Justice (326 immigration judges and other non-ALJs).[1]
See also
- Concepts, terms, and definitions related to the administrative state
- The Administrative State Project
External links
Footnotes
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