One of the most conservative judges in the country ruled against a Trump administration effort to allow the states to throw millions off Medicaid.
One of the most conservative judges in the country just handed down an opinion saying that the Trump administration acted illegally when it permitted the state of Arkansas to strip health coverage from thousands of Medicaid beneficiaries.
Judge David Sentelle’s opinion in Gresham v. Azar, on behalf of himself and two of his colleagues on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is significant in its own right. But it is also significant because it suggests that the Trump administration will have a tough time defending its conduct if this case is heard by the Supreme Court.
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The heart of the ruling is that Trump can’t toss out the objectives of Congress and replace them with his own. In other words, Congress makes the laws and Trump implements them. The President does not have the power to changes the legislative objectives that are passed by Congress.
Eighteen thousand people would have lost their Medicaid coverage in Arkansas, and without this ruling other larger red states would have followed Arkansas. The result would have been millions of Americans without health insurance coverage.
Trump has made it his goal to publicly proclaim to be saving healthcare while privately attempting to take away insurance from millions of people.
The President is already worried that Democrats are going to kill him on healthcare, and court rulings that he broke the law while trying to make more Americans uninsured will only boost the Democratic case in November.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
