Jayne Mathews-Sheets v. Michael Ast

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

After prevailing in this suit for social security disability benefits, the plaintiff asked for an award of attorney’s fees of $25,200. The district judge cut the amount down to $6,625. He thought the hours her lawyer had spent on the case excessive and sliced them from 112 or 116 (we’re about to see that it’s unclear how many hours the lawyer was seeking compensation for) to 53. Although the judge’s explanation for this drastic cut was skimpy, it was skimpy in part because he had simply adopted objections made by the Social Security Administration’s lawyer— and those…