Approval rates
Comparing a judge's lifetime performance against recent office and national benchmarks provides a clearer picture of their decision-making history. While the national average approval rate is 58%, Judge Blount's lifetime rate stands at 58% over 15,394 decisions. This data offers a statistical baseline for your hearing preparation. Aggregate rates describe past decisions, not predictions for your individual hearing.
Office- and national-level breakdowns of fully favorable vs denial rates aren't currently published by SSA in the per-office disposition data. The judge's own breakdown is the detail we have today.
Approval rate over time
Year-over-year approval rate across Judge Blount's docket. Annual rates fluctuate with the mix of cases SSA assigns; the longer-run pattern is more informative than any single year.
Decision pattern
Over 9 years on the bench, Judge Blount's approval rates have shown notable shifts. After a period of lower approval rates between 2020 and 2021, the trend has moved upward, reaching 75% in the most recent reporting period. This recent activity reflects a significant increase compared to the lifetime average. These fluctuations may stem from changes in case complexity or the specific evidence presented in recent dockets.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Blount's bench. Judge-specific preparation guidance requires a corpus of public Appeals Council decisions involving each judge, which we haven't built yet.
- Bring a clean treating-physician record. Longitudinal primary-care or specialist notes spanning the disability period, with consistent symptom documentation, are typically the strongest evidence at hearing. A single month's records usually aren't enough.
- Don't rely on consultative exams alone. If your medical evidence is built primarily around a one-time CE finding, expect detailed questioning. Supplement with treating-source statements where possible.
- Prepare for daily-activity questions. Have honest, specific answers about a typical day. Answers that conflict with the medical record (in either direction) tend to hurt credibility.
- Expect transferable-skills probing. A vocational expert will usually testify about jobs available to someone with your limitations. Your representative should be prepared to cross-examine.
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Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Washington hearing office
The Washington (District of Columbia) Hearing Office serves a diverse population across the region. With a bench of 6 judges, this office manages a high volume of SSDI claims. The office-wide latest approval rate is 61%, providing a local context for your upcoming hearing. You can see the Washington (District of Columbia) Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration assigns cases using a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning the judge you are assigned is essentially random. Within the Washington Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 33% to 58%. Because this variance exists, knowing the tendencies of the office as a whole is helpful. For preparation purposes, the guidance is the same regardless of which judge you are assigned.
Your odds change dramatically with a lawyer
SSDI hearing approval rates — represented vs. on your own
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-37. The 3× gap is a population-wide average across all judges; individual outcomes vary.