Sutich v. Callahan

At the time their attorneys filed the lawsuit in March of 1997, Sutich and Partovi had already been denied SSI benefits, and Muy, Klein, and Chan would be cut off on or before 22 August. The class-action represented two subclasses of individuals that would, according to their brief, be irreparably damaged by section 402 of the Welfare Reform Act.

In a section regarding Congress's intent in passing the Welfare Reform Act, the plaintiffs' legal counsel noted the law's counterproductive qualities. Specifically, Congress had cited two interests served by Section 402: first, that it would discourage illegal immigrants from the expectation of receiving SSI benefits; and second, it would encourage self-reliance. With regard to the first point, the brief pointed out that "persons not lawfully present in the United States have never been eligible for SSI. Therefore it is irrational to suggest that injuring people already here legally . . . will deter other people from immigrating illegally in the future" (all emphasis original). As for the issue of self-reliance, the plaintiffs' counsel noted that Section 402 would actually result in their clients becoming more, not less, dependent on government help--and therefore the alleged cost-cutting measures in Section 402 would end up creating a much greater expense for the public: ". . . denying lawful permanent residents these benefits will render them less self-reliant since they will be in danger of becoming homeless, hungry, and unable to care for themselves. Thousands of them, ironically, will end up in state institutions at great public expense."

Although the issue of SSI eligibility, and the larger concern of balancing the budget, had attracted great attention in the media, the Sutich case received little attention. On 17 June 1997, the ACLU issued a press release stating that U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken would hear oral arguments in the case two days later. Sutich was part of a larger movement to counterbalance some of the more sweeping measures in the Welfare Reform Act. The result was that in late 1997, Congress passed the Balanced Budget Act, which, among other things, restored SSI benefits to most legal residents. In December of that year, the Social Security Administration issued a directive to return otherwise eligible noncitizens to the SSI beneficiary roles, and the Sutich case was dismissed without prejudice on 13 January 1998.