Last December, a Republican judge named Reed O’Connor handed down an opinion purporting to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act. The case, Texas v. United States, was brought by several Republican officials who manipulated the process used to assign judges to cases in order to get this case into O’Connor’s courtroom.
O’Connor, a former Republican Capitol Hill staffer, has a history of striking down policies supported by Democrats on highly dubi...
politics
What the Senate vote on the Green New Deal resolution actually means
Senate debate over the hotly contested Green New Deal resolution is expected to come to a head on Tuesday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tries to force a divide among Democrats by calling for a vote on the ambitious proposal, even though no legislation has been proposed.
Democrats, meanwhile, are working to gain the upper hand with a display of unity, despite their differing stances on what meaningful climate action should look like. The final vote will serve as an...
The Supreme Court is seizing power from the presidency because Donald Trump is stupid
Justice Antonin Scalia’s greatest gift to the conservative movement was teaching judges that humility is for suckers.
Scalia, of course, is best known for popularizing originalism — the belief that the only legitimate way to interpret the Constitution is to read its words as they were originally understood by the framers’ contemporaries. But Scalia was neither a historian nor a linguist. He lacked the training necessary to effectively probe how people two centuries...
Lindsey Graham says people are only defending McCain to hurt Trump
On the same day Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) blasted President Donald Trump for “deplorable” attacks on his late colleague, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also unleashed an attack — on Trump critics who are talking about it.
Days after attacking McCain, who died last August, for not voting for his TrumpCare legislation to take health insurance coverage away from 16 million people, Trump continued to go after him on Wednesday. In an official presidentia...
New North Carolina bill would hold doctors accountable for sexual assault
A new bill making its way through the North Carolina Legislature seeks to ensure doctors are held accountable for sexually assaulting their patients. The bill is partly influenced by Larry Nassar, a former doctor and convicted serial sexual predator who, during his time at USA Gymnastics, molested hundreds of young girls and women.
The legislation, House Bill 228, cleared the House Health Committee on Tuesday and has been re-referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Rep. Gr...
Low-income New Hampshire residents sue Trump administration over Medicaid work requirements
Low-income residents in New Hampshire are suing the Trump administration for approving the state’s Medicaid work requirement, a group of health advocacy organizations announced Wednesday.
This is the third legal challenge against the administration’s most consequential health policy. The administration has already allowed eight states to condition Medicaid eligibility on reported work.
The administration first approved New Hampshire’s work requirement in Nov...
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand finally snagged a home state endorsement. Why on earth did it take so long?
For weeks, the 2020 candidates have been racking up endorsements from their home state delegations. Two months into her presidential campaign, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) finally received one too — from fellow New York lawmaker Carolyn Maloney.
“I am proud to endorse my friend @SenGillibrand to be our next President and the nation’s first woman President,” Rep. Maloney (D-NY) tweeted Sunday evening. “I saw tenacity when we fought together to pass the...
Maryland could become the first state to stop participating in the federal family planning program
Maryland could be the first state to stop participating in the country’s only federal family program, should the Trump administration’s so-called gag rule go into effect.
On Saturday, the Maryland House of Delegates passed a bill that would end the state’s participation in Title X, if the administration prevents the program’s federal family planning funds from going to clinics like Planned Parenthood that provide abortion or refer patients for abortion elsewh...
‘I vote with my pancreas’: How the skyrocketing price of insulin became an 2020 election issue
Once a month, Sarah Stark makes the trip to her local pharmacy to pick up the insulin she needs to keep her diabetes in check.
She has health insurance through her job and uses a $100 manufacturer’s coupon to help defray the cost. Even so, she ends up paying a whopping $728.40.
Stark, 28, is not the only one to experience sticker shock when making the purchase. Invariably, the pharmacist who rings her up is taken aback by the price of the medication, and asks if she’s certai...
Andrew Yang is the most interesting presidential candidate you’ve never heard of
Like any respectable presidential candidate, Andrew Yang calls from a diner in New Hampshire. Naturally, he’s having the clam chowder. He says it’s delicious.
Over the past few months, like the more than a dozen other Democrats running in the primaries, Yang, a 44-year-old businessman, has been campaigning in early states and doing the media rounds.
The only thing is that nobody knows who he is. Well, not nobody, but basically nobody. In early February, in a blog post...