The Federal Court of Appeals issued a key ruling this past Friday, April 10, 2020 on the Supplemental Security Income claim. The decision comes after the federal government filed a lawsuit seeking reimbursement for more than $28,000 in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits paid to a U.S. citizen after he moved from New York to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico to care for his wife.
One of the man's attorneys, New York-based Hermann Ferre, told The Associated Press that an estimated 700,000 people in Puerto Rico qualify for SSI.
"This is a significant case," he asserted.
This important news has circulated in the national press.
New York Times: US Court Upholds SSI for Puerto Ricans in Key Ruling
"The U.S. Court of Appeals issued a key ruling on Friday that allows anyone from Puerto Rico to apply for Supplemental Security Income at a time when the U.S. territory is mired in a 13-year recession."
Bloomberg Law: Puerto Rico Residents Entitled to SSI Disability Benefits
"The blanket exclusion of Puerto Rico residents from receiving Supplemental Security Income disability benefits is an unconstitutional deprivation of their right to equal protection, the First Circuit ruled.
Singling out Puerto Rico residents "is clearly irrelevant to the stated purpose of the program, which is to provide cash assistance to the nation's financially needy elderly, disabled, or blind," the court said."
El Nuevo Día
"According to the ruling of the Federal Court of Appeals, taken by Judges Juan Torruella, Jeffrey Howard and Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson, in a lawsuit filed by the United States against a citizen resident of the Island, "the exclusion of residents of Puerto Rico is declared invalid."
It states that "the categorical exclusion of Puerto Rico residents from Supplemental Security Income is not rationally related to the legitimate interests of the government. Moreover, from the record established by the parties, we have considered even theoretically conceivable reasons for the differential treatment granted by the government. Having found no set of facts, nor appellant alleging any additional theory, establishing a rational basis for the exclusion of Puerto Rico residents from Supplemental Security Income coverage, such exclusion of Puerto Rico residents is hereby declared invalid."
El Vocero: Puerto Rican's Supplemental Social Security Benefit Approved
"A panel of judges of the First Circuit Court of Appeals based in Boston upheld the order of federal judge Gustavo Gelpi, who determined that Luis Vaello Madero does not have to return the $28,000 in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits from Social Security after moving from New York to Puerto Rico, where U.S. citizens do not receive benefits from that plan.
The Circuit's order only applies to Vaello Madero. However, that forum creates a precedent, as now anyone who qualifies can demand it and go to Federal Court if necessary."
"The decision upholds the one issued in February 2019 by the presiding judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Gustavo A. Gelpí, favoring the plaintiff, José Luis Vaello Madero, a Puerto Rican who was born on the Island, moved to New York, where he began receiving benefits from the program, and who lost them when he moved back to the Island. In addition to losing them, the federal government charged him $28,081 that he received from the program while he was in Puerto Rico.
Vaello Madero claimed that it was a violation of his rights for him to lose eligibility for a program available to U.S. citizens simply because he had moved to Puerto Rico."