Linda P. Barrett v. Jo Anne B. Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security

The government, distressed by one sentence in our opinion in Barrett v. Barn-hart, 355 F.3d 1065 (7th Cir.2004), asks us to change it (the government does not ask us to reconsider our decision, which was adverse to it). The sentence is: “The test [of the plaintiffs entitlement to disability benefits] is whether she is so disabled that there are no jobs in reasonable proximity to ivhere she lives that she is physically able to do.” 355 F.3d at 1067 (emphasis added). It is the phrase that we have italicized that bothers the government, which points out that the law does not require, to defeat a…