DHS WON'T IMPLEMENT NO-MATCH RULE UNTIL JUDGE OKAYS

Secretary Chertoff has indicated that the agency will NOT implement the no-match rule until a judge that enjoined the 2007 rule signs off. This appears to contradict the language in the preamble in the proposed rule which indicated DHS did not need the judge's approval. In my post yesterday, I express curiosity how DHS planned on ignoring the judge and now my question is answered. One of the attorneys in the case contacted me last night and mentioned that the judge will be meeting with the parties in the next few days. Presumably, the litigants will fight to maintain the injunction.

Also, the rule is not going to be published, according to Chertoff, for a few weeks. That now makes sense since if the judge signs off, the rule can take immediate effect upon publication as called fo under the rule.

From Chertoff's official statement:

As a consequence, in March of this year, we proposed a supplemental rule to address those concerns and we also provided a more detailed analysis of how we developed the No-Match Rule and what the consequences would be. Not surprisingly, we got a lot of comments with regards to the supplemental rule. I am pleased to say we have carefully considered the comments and that this week I signed the final rule that revises the original rule, addresses the issues that the court raised, and that will be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks.

We will be notifying the judge that we have taken action to address the courts' concerns on the original rule, and we will ask the court to lift the injunction, and let us proceed with implementation of the rule immediately.

Comments

[Lenny]

Social Security Should Notify AMERICANS When More Than One Person Is Using Our Number ... WE DESERVE THIS SIMPLE SAFEGAURD AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT !!! Send The No Match Letters Now And Watch Millions Of Americans Get Thier Jobs Back Now !!!

[Dan Kowalski, Austin, Texas]

Whoops! Another DHS switcheroo: the rule is listed for publication in Tuesday's FR:
http://federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-25544_PI.pdf