Revised medical criteria for evaluating mental disoders

1. I pick the Social Security Administration for this assgniment, it is a federal government agency. Am interested in the Revised medical criteria for evaluating mental disoders proposal due to the fact that the Social Security Administration affect the lives of most Americans and proposed changes will impact many citizens. The proposed regulation will not affect me or affect my business, because am into car retailing business and the proposed Social Security regulation does not have direct impact on the retailing business.

2. A proposal to revise the criteria impairment listings used to evaluate mental disorders in adults and children pursuant to Titles II and IVI of the Social Security Act. This proposal also includes removal of certain sections of the regulations and include them in other sections of the Social Security Administration regulations. The reason for the proposed changes is the result of adjudicative experience and advances in medical knowledge recommended in a commissioned report and comments from experts of the field and the public.

3. As an uncle to a child with a mental disorder and this child is also receiving Social Security benefits, I am in agreement with the proposed changes. The revision stating that the Social Security Administration will recognize non-physician sources, such as therapists and social workers will be helpful in assisting claimants in the future. As stated in the proposed changes, these non-physician professionals provide a claimant's history and longitudinal evidence about functioning over a period of time. The needs of the mentally disabled in our society, is growing by the day and there is need for more provision for them from the Social Security Administration.

4. The deadline by which the public comment must be made is by 11/17/10 11:59pm EST.

5a. 5 USC 553 states that "each agency shall give an interested person the right to petition for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule". The Aministrative Procedure Act does not state how the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule should be done but it gives the public an opportunity to participate in the rulemaking process. After the deadline for the comments has expired, the document will then be published in the Federal Register for additional comments which is usually a 30days period. These leaves room for the rules to be challenged in court by some of the people who commented on the rules during the proposal stage. After the comment period, the agency then decides if to simply adopt the new rules, to modify the proposed rules, or to withdraw the rule.

5b. Five legal theories that could be used to argue in an attempt to have the regulation dropped:
1) The first ground used to challenge an agency rule is to say that it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or it in violation of other laws.
2) The second theory used to challenge an agency's regulation is to say that the regulation is not supported by enough evidence.
3) The third ground on which an agency's rules can be challenged is if the agency did not follow APA requirements of notice, publication, and public comments.
4) Also, another ground on which an agency's rules can be challenged is when the regulation is unconstitutional, that is when it impose discriminatory requirements on licensed professionals.
5) Lastly another theory that can be used is when the court is ultra vires, that is when it goes beyond its powers to enable the agency.

5c. I believe the most effective way to challenge the proposed regulation would be to use the second theory. That is to prove that the agency's regulation is not supported by enough evidence. I can easily prove that more convincing evidence exit against the proposed regulation.