Upholding the Rule of Law
in the Social Security Administration, an Agency at War with Itself
by
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An attorney, J. Harry Tiernan, and his wife, Lucia, rented a cottage across the street. Over the summer, the children of the two families became great friends, spending our vacations at the beach or on the tennis courts.
Flash forward ten years to the fall of 1952. I am sitting in my storefront office, the telephone rings, I answer, and a voice identifies the caller as Harry Tiernan—a voice from the past.
Fifty-seven years later, I can still recall the elation I felt when he asked me if I would be interested in associating myself with him in providing workers’ compensation legal assistance for every major steelworker union in the metropolitan Buffalo area.
Wow!
I had not seen Mr. Tiernan in the last ten years. I had no experience in workers’ compensation law. I had no idea why he had selected me. Nevertheless, I said yes.
To work out the details, Mr. Tiernan suggested that we meet at my home that evening at 7:00 p.m. Any time or date would have been acceptable to me! In any event, I closed the office early to tell Mary of our good fortune and prepared for the meeting.
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About the Book
Part autobiography and part examination of our current system of social security, Upholding the Rule of Law is more than just a treatise on what happened with that agency in the 1970’s and 1980’s; Judge Borowiec’s insights provide a methodology to eliminate the massive disability claims backlog that continues to plague the Social Security Administration and which simultaneously impoverishes the thousands of disability claimants waiting two years or more for an agency decision on their disability claims.
Author Judge Frank B Borowiec artfully explains the classic conflict between government agencies charged with efficiently and effectively executing their statutory mandates and their administrative law judges who have a sworn duty as independent, unbiased and impartial arbiters to protect the due process constitutional rights of all individuals contesting what they believe to be erroneous agency decisions.
Beginning with his childhood, he relates those significant details of his life, including his service during World War II, and a chance meeting with attorney J. Harry Tiernan, that would profoundly influence his career in years to come.
About the Author
Judge Frank B Borowiec has served as an administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration since May 1968, and is a member of the New York, Georgia, and American Bar associations. He is a veteran of World War II who graduated from the University of Buffalo School of Law in 1949.