Mathews v. Eldridge, , is a case in which the United States Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 held that individuals have a statutorily granted property right in social security benefits, that the termination of those benefits implicates due process

Due process

Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...

, but that the termination of Social Security

Social Security (United States)

In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...

 benefits does not require a pre-termination hearing. The case is important in the development of American administrative law.

Legal principles

In determining the amount of process due, the court should weigh three factors:

1. The interests of the individual in retaining their property, and the injury threatened by the official action
2. The risk of error through the procedures used and probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards;
3. The costs and administrative burden of the additional process, and the interests of the government in efficient adjudication

Social security benefits are a statutorily created property right implicating due process

Due process

Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...

.

Termination of social security benefits does not require a pre-termination hearing.

Facts and procedural posture

The SSA terminated Eldridge's social security benefits through its normal procedures. However, Eldridge was not provided with a hearing before the termination of his benefits in which he could argue for a continuation of the benefits. He sued, even though he had not exhausted his post-termination administrative remedies. The district court held that the termination was unconstitutional, and the court of appeals affirmed.

The Supreme Court reversed, holding that no pre-termination hearing was required.