Thomas, J., concurring
eral judiciary on a broad array of statutory claims, including claims for monetary relief.” Nelson 602.[1]
II
As I have previously explained, “[b]ecause federal administrative agencies are part of the Executive Branch, it is not clear that they have power to adjudicate claims involving core private rights.” B&B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Industries, Inc., 575 U. S. 138, 171 (2015) (dissenting opinion). The “appellate review model” of agency adjudication thus raises serious constitutional concerns. It may violate the separation of powers by placing adjudicatory authority over core private rights—a judicial rather than executive power—within the authority of Article II agencies. See ibid. (“To the extent that administrative agencies could, consistent with the Constitution, function as courts, they might only be able to do so with respect to claims involving public or quasi-private rights”). It may violate Article III by compelling the Judiciary to defer to administrative agencies regarding matters within the core of the Judicial Vesting Clause. See P. Hamburger, Is Administrative Law Unlawful? 297 (2014) (Hamburger) (explaining that, traditionally, “even at the behest of Congress, the judges could not defer to the executive record or the facts supposedly established by it, lest they abandon their office of independent judgment and the office of juries to decide the
- ↑ The Court has further blurred the line between adjudications that require Article III courts and those that do not by equating mere Government benefits and entitlements with core private rights. See, e.g., Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U. S. 254, 261–263 (1970) (holding that due process rights attach to the deprivation of Government benefits); see also id., at 262, n. 8 (“It may be realistic today to regard welfare entitlements as more like ‘property’ than a ‘gratuity.’ … It has been aptly noted that ‘society today is built around entitlement’ ” (quoting C. Reich, Individual Rights and Social Welfare: The Emerging Legal Issues, 74 Yale L. J. 1245, 1255 (1965); alteration omitted)).
