Brewes v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration

Mindy Brewes appeals an order of the district court affirming the Commissioner of Social Security’s final decision denying her disability benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 401-434 . We must decide, among other things, whether the district court should have considered evidence Brewes did not submit to the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) but submitted for the first time to the Appeals Council, which accepted and considered the new evidence but declined to review the ALJ’s decision.

The Commissioner contends that when the Appeals Council denies review of an ALJ’s decision, evidence that was not before the ALJ is not part of the administrative record before the district court, even if that evidence was submitted to and accepted by the Appeals Council. We disagree. We hold that when a claimant submits evidence for the first time to the Appeals Council, which considers that evidence in denying review of the ALJ’s decision, the new evidence is part of the ad ministrative record, which the district court must consider in determining whether the Commissioner’s decision is supported by substantial evidence. Considering the record as a whole,…