Samuel Alito on Social Security Supreme Court Justice (nominated by Pres. George W. Bush 2005)

Disability benefits apply if job category dissapears

ALITO: That was a case where I think the Supreme Court thought that my opinion had gone too far in favor of the little guy who was involved there.

HATCH: This was a woman with disabilities, right?

ALITO: That’s right.

HATCH: She sought Social Security benefits.

ALITO: Social Security disability benefits. And in order to be eligible for those, she had to be unable to perform any job that existed in substantial numbers in the national economy.

HATCH: She had a job as an elevator operator if I recall correctly.

ALITO: That’s right. As the case was presented to us, the only job that she could perform was her past job, which was as an elevator operator. I said you can’t deny Social Security benefits because the person is able to do a job that no longer exists. You can’t deny benefits based on a hypothetical job. It has to be based on a real job. And the Supreme Court didn’t see it that way.