Terry R. Finnegan, Sr. v. David Matthews, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare of the United States

This case presents the novel problem of interpreting a grandfather clause authored by Congress as part of its 1972 rewriting of sections of the Social Security Act (“Act”). Defendant, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (hereinafter “Secretary” or “HEW”), seeks to rely on its own regulations, written after the passage of the Act, to read the prose of congressional Magi as those of legislative Indian givers, and to interpret a wise, fair grandfather clause as a grizzly, old miser. Because we find this Scrooge-like transmogrification of the clause to be inconsistent with its plain meaning and legislative history, with subsequent intimations by the judicial readership, and with the dictates of both policy and common sense, we reject the position of the Secretary.

I. PORTRAIT OF A GRANDFATHER: THE CLAUSE

In October, 1972, Congress repealed the categorical assistance program (Title XIV of the Social Security Act) which had provided federal grants to state-administered disability assistance programs. 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1351-1355 , Pub.L. No. 92-603, 86 Stat. 1484 § 303 (repealed 1972). At the same time, Congress established a program identified as Supplemental Security Income…