Jeannette DAVIDSON, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant-Appellant

This appeal presents the issue of whether the regulations established by the Secretary for the federal Department of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to guide evaluation of claims for social security widow’s disability benefits are invalid because they do not implement the unambiguous language of the statute that they purport to administer. 1 The Secretary denied Mrs. Jeannette Davidson’s claim for widow’s disability benefits, and an administrative law judge concurred in that decision. The district court reversed and remanded to the Secretary, holding that the Secretary must consider…