행정법판사의 지위에 관한 미국연방대법원의 최근 판결례

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the Federal Securities Commission (SEC) is the Officers of the United States in Lucia v. SEC(138 S. Ct. 2044 (2018)). According to this ruling, ALJ of SEC must be appointed by the President, the court or heads of departments. The U.S. Constitution has this Appointment Clause. After the Supreme Court's ruling was issued, President Trump issued an Executive Order to abolish the examination or competition selection process when the heads of departments appointe their ALJs to appoint ALJs at the discretion of the head of the Federal Commission. The Office of the Solicitor General issued a guideline in which all ALJs, including the ALJ, who preside over adversarial hearings, are deemed as Officers of the United States. The ALJ is in fact serving as a federal trial court judge in the United States. There are different opinions on the Court’s ruling. some concern that this ruling may hinder the independence of administrative trials conducted in the United States. However, there is also a positive opinion that experts in the field can be appointed as ALJs and unified enforcement of administrative powers becomes possible. In Korea, only a few legal experts are acted as administrative appeal commissioners at administrative appeal commission. Former and current civil servants are serving as administrative appeal commissioners. The independence and professionalism are not surely guarranteed for administrative appeal commissioners. It would be necessary to come up with measures to improve the status and expertise in the field, comparable to the position of judges.