Where a District Court remands a Social Security Administration decision addressing a specific error not related to residual functional capacity, does the order constitute a complete vacatur rendering the first decision null and void, or are the issues in the remanded decision limited to the basis for remand?

| If the Commissioner of Social Security denies an | application for disability benefits, and the claimant has | exhausted her administrative remedies, the claimant | can appeal to a district court. The Social Security Act provides that the court shall have power to enter, upon | the pleadings and transcript of the record, a judgment | affirming, modifying, or reversing the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, with or without remanding the cause for a rehearing. The findings of the | Commissioner of Social Security as to any fact, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive. Often the court does not disturb the residual functional capacity findings in the Administrative Law Judge decision, but remands the case to correct errors pertaining to evaluation of vocational testimony or for | another reason which does not involve a claimant’s | residual functional capacity. The question presented is: Where a District Court remands a decision of the | i Social Security Administration, to address a specific | error, not related to the residual functional capacity | findings in the ALJ decision, does the order constitute a complete vacatur of the Commissioner’s decision, rendering the first decision, null and void, with no legal effect whatsoever, giving the Commissioner the discretion to make new factual findings as to the | claimant’s residual functional capacity, even though neither the Commissioner nor the claimant objected to those findings to the Appeals Council nor the District Court, or, are the issues in the remanded decision, limited to the basis for the remand. In other words, do the doctrines of the Law of the Case and/or Rule of Mandate apply in Social Security disability appeals? |