In March 2018, Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Mark Solomon conducted a hearing regarding plaintiff Mollie Marie Flinton’s Social Security application. He had not been properly appointed at this time in compliance with the Constitution’s Appointment Clause, yet still issued a decision denying her benefits. After the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York remanded Flinton’s case to the Social Security Administration (SSA) for a near hearing in 2020, Flinton again appeared before ALJ Solomon for a hearing in August 2021. This time, however, ALJ Solomon had been ratified by the Commissioner of Social Security, now in compliance with the Constitution’s Appointment Clause. Pertinent to the case is the June 2018 Supreme Court decision in Lucia v. SEC, where the court held that ALJs of the SEC are “Officers of the United States” within the purview of the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. Since they were “inferior officers,” only “the President, a court of law, or a head of department” could properly appoint them to their positions.