The Supreme Court and Social Security

Students for Saving Social Security

Currently John Roberts is undergoing intense questioning from the Senate Judiciary committee in hearing on his nomination to be the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Senators on the committee ask questions of Roberts to try and determine his position on certain key issues: abortion, affirmative action, and the authority of Congress. The Senators press the nominee so hard for good reason; Supreme Court Justices receive life appointments and the decisions they make affect Americans for decades and sometimes generations.

Because the stakes are so high, most of the issues discussed are partisan in nature and the nominee refuses to answer. Due to the political posturing of the Senators other important non-partisan decisions by the Supreme Court often get overshadowed. We often forget some of the past decisions by the Court that continue to affect us today.

In 1960 the Supreme Court made a decision that all workers should remember every two weeks when they get their paychecks. In Flemming v. Nestor the Court ruled that Americans have “…no legal right to Social Security benefits and benefits are part of government spending programs, no different in the eyes of the law than corporate welfare or farm subsidies". Would a Roberts-led court have decided the case differently? Could a similar case go before the court in the future? We don’t see politicians trying to find the answers to these questions; for good reason.

Every year Congress raids the trust fund to pay for pet projects. As a result the “trust fund” will start going negative in 2017. By the time young Americans retire the system will be bankrupt and none of our benefits are guaranteed as ruled by the Supreme Court.

When the rulings of the Supreme Court are coupled with the spending habits of Congress Americans face a pretty bleak situation. The only safe solution is the creation of Personal Retirement Accounts. PRAs would give every American ownership and control over their Social Security dollars. It would allow every American to leave a legacy for their children or grandchildren. Individual accounts would also in effect give every worker his or her own personal lockbox thus ending the Congressional raid on the trust fund.

The Supreme Court’s role is to safeguard our Constitutional rights. It is up to us to guarantee our financial rights. Every American should have a right to their Social Security dollars. Citizens must keep the pressure on Congress to create Personal Retirement Accounts that would safeguard our retirements.

Chris Schrimpf is a member of Students for Saving Social Security, www.secureourfuture.org, a non-partisan student group on over 230 campuses across the country advocating for Social Security reform through personal accounts.

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Students for Saving Social Security, www.secureourfuture.org, is a non-partisan student led group on over 230 campuses across the country advocating for Social Security reform with personal accounts.

chris@secureourfuture.org