Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Kavanaugh Draws Election Battle Lines While Many Are Focusing On Barrett
CNN: Brett Kavanaugh Foreshadows How Supreme Court Could Disrupt Vote Counting
Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Monday night set the battle lines for how the Supreme Court should consider post-election lawsuits that could determine the outcome of the presidential race. As the court rejected a Democratic attempt to allow mail-in votes, postmarked by Election Day, to be received up to six days after the election in Wisconsin, Kavanaugh also suggested that state courts may not have the last word in interpreting state election rules. "Under the U.S. Constitution, the state courts do not have a blank check to rewrite state election laws for federal elections," Kavanaugh wrote in a footnote of his concurring opinion. (de Vogue, 10/27)
The New York Times: Kavanaugh’s Opinion In Wisconsin Voting Case Raises Alarms Among Democrats
The Supreme Court decision on Monday barring the counting of mail-in ballots in Wisconsin that arrive after Election Day was not a surprise for many Democrats, who had pressed for it but expected to lose. But a concurring opinion by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh set off alarms among civil rights and Democratic Party lawyers, who viewed it as giving public support to President Trump’s arguments that any results counted after Nov. 3 could be riddled with fraudulent votes — an assertion unsupported by the history of elections in the United States. (Rutenberg and Corasaniti, 10/27)
On the topics of gay rights, trans rights and Obamacare —
NBC News: Advocates Fear Barrett Will Strip Away Gay Rights. It Could Begin Next Week.
Amy Coney Barrett has been fueling the fears of LGBTQ advocacy groups since President Donald Trump first nominated her to the federal bench in 2017. Now, with Barrett officially confirmed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, advocates worry that she and the court's five other conservatives could start stripping away gay rights imminently. The most immediate concern for national LGBTQ and civil rights groups is Barrett's presence on the court for next week's arguments in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a case that looks at whether faith-based child welfare agencies can refuse to work with same-sex couples and other people whom they consider to be in violation of their religious beliefs. (Moreau, 10/28)
The Hill: The Supreme Court's Next Major Case Starts The Day After The Election
After Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as the next Supreme Court justice, many Americans are wondering what the outcome of the upcoming presidential election will mean for the highest court in the country. But the day after the election, perhaps even before a winner is declared, the Republican pick will decide a major case for the LGBTQ+ community. On Nov. 4, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a cause brought by a taxpayer-funded, religious-affiliated foster care agency seeking to reject same sex couples as foster parents. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the lower courts, ruling in favor of Philadelphia, in April of 2019, but the Supreme Court granted a request for a writ of certiorari, or a review, of the decision. (Srikanth, 10/26)
The Guardian: As The Future Of Obamacare Heads To The Supreme Court, So Do Trans Rights
“Life for trans people in terms of access to healthcare before and after the ACA is like night and day,” said Shannon Minter, an expert in transgender law and an attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. But many Americans don’t have a grasp on the important role the ACA has played for LGBTQ people, especially those who are transgender, potentially making this fall’s supreme court arguments the most critical transgender rights case ever heard at the court. (Burns, 10/27)
On the topic of abortion —
The Hill: Supreme Court To Consider Taking Up Mississippi's 15-Week Abortion Ban
The Supreme Court on Friday will consider whether to review a Mississippi law that bans virtually all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which could set the newly 6-3 conservative majority court on a collision course with the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. The dispute over Mississippi’s pre-viability abortion ban also represents a major test for the newly confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who will have been on the court less than a week when the justices gather privately to decide what new cases to add to the court’s docket. (Kruzel, 10/27)
Boston Globe: Fearing A Reversal Of Roe, Warren, Markey Push For Expanded Abortion Access In Mass.
Seizing on concerns that abortion rights will be overturned by a now solidly conservative US Supreme Court, activists on Tuesday night reignited their campaign to protect and expand legal protections in Massachusetts. US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, both Democrats, joined reproductive rights advocates in an online rally, saying the US Senate’s swift confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett this week demanded action from the state. (Ebbert, 10/27)
The Hill: Barrett Starts Fraught First Week As Supreme Court Faces Fights Over Election, Abortion Rights
The addition of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, a week before Election Day, comes as the justices careen through a political gauntlet that includes disputes over voting accommodations that could shape the election outcomes in two battleground states. Barrett came under intense political pressure almost immediately after taking the oath on Tuesday when a Pennsylvania county asked her to recuse herself from the fight over the state’s mail-in ballot extension. (Kruzel, 10/27)
