Ebert v. Arnold-Williams
Ebert v. Arnold-Williams
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
George Ebert represents a class of Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”) recipients who bring this action to challenge the program of the State of Washington for distribution of State Supplementary Payments (“SSP”), which supplement payments received by certain SSI recipients.
Even if we assume, without deciding, that the State of Washington is the proper defendant for this cause of action despite the approval of its program by the federal Social Security Administration, Ebert cannot demonstrate “that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.” Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992) (internal quotation omitted). The State can allocate the SSP as it chooses because, when a state administers its own supplementary payments (as Washington chose to do in 2002 and thereafter), satisfaction of the Maintenance of Effort requirement is based on the state’s aggregate contribution and not on payments to individual accounts. See 20 C.F.R. § 416.2005(c) (“If the State chooses to administer such payments itself, it may establish its own criteria for determining eligibility requirements as well as the amounts.”); Gifford v. Heckler, 741 F.2d 263, 267 (9th Cir. 1984) (“[T]he state is not obligated to maintain the supplementary payments at a certain level based on individual accounts but must only assure that its total yearly ex
The judgment of the district court in all respects is AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Cir. R. 36-3.
. The facts of this case are familiar to the parties and need not be recited here.
. We review de novo whether a party has standing to bring a cause of action. See Buono v. Norton, 371 F.3d 543, 546 (9th Cir. 2004). We can affirm a district court's decision even if we dismiss the case for different reasons. See Cigna Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Polaris Pictures Corp., 159 F.3d 412, 418 (9th Cir. 1998).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.