“I get grades from the Cabinet members,” Cohen said.
Cohen also said that, under the current system, administrative law judges are not susceptible to outside influence by the governor, which protects petitioners and judges.
If judges nearing the end of their terms want to be reappointed, “somewhere in the back of my mind might be swimming around that I can’t be fair and impartial” when ruling against executive agencies, Cohen said.
“If a member of the public challenges an agency rule, then why would you want the agency deciding whether this rule is good or bad? The agency has already decided this rule is good,” Cohen said. “We don’t have any independent or special or God-given powers. … We are bound to follow the law and apply the law to the facts of the case before us. And that’s where it ends.”
Bill Pfeiffer, a former administrative law judge, called the proposal “very dangerous in the long term.”
“While I have huge respect for this governor and don’t think he would place his finger on the scale of fairness or justice, it opens the door very wide for any future executive to completely control all future outcomes in any challenges to an agency,” he said. “The public should be outraged.”
