Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Kavanaugh's Impact On Elections Highlights The Two Very Different Fights Happening For House And Senate
The Associated Press: Emotions High As Kavanaugh Begins Fight For Confirmation
Conservative Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh plunged into his confirmation battle Tuesday, meeting face-to-face with Senate leaders in what promises to be an intense debate over abortion rights, presidential power and other legal disputes that could reshape the court and roil this fall's elections. (Mascaro, 7/10)
The New York Times: Who Might The Court Fight Help In The Midterms? Democrats. And Republicans.
Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court could very well help Republicans hold or expand their control of the Senate. It could also hurt their efforts to maintain control of the House. That political oddity illustrates the complexities of this midterm election season, which is actually two very different midterms. One is the fight for the Senate, where Democrats are defending the seats of 10 incumbents in states won by President Trump, and the other is the contest for the House, where Republicans are defending a vast and expanding battleground that is every bit as forbidding, with nearly 60 Republican seats in play. (Hulse, 7/10)
The New York Times: For Midterms, Supreme Court Political Drama Plays To Its Audience
Joe Donnelly knew his audience: Addressing a group of camouflage-clad union mine workers and retirees here last weekend, the Democratic senator trumpeted his efforts to protect their pensions and health care, asked attendees to raise their hands if they knew someone with a pre-existing health condition, and made not a single mention of the upcoming Supreme Court vote that could determine his political fate in November. (Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, 7/11)
The New York Times: Senate Democrats Come Out Swinging In Long-Shot Fight To Block Kavanaugh
Senate Democrats, facing an uphill struggle to defeat the nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, opened a broad attack on Tuesday, painting him as an archconservative who would roll back abortion rights, undo health care protections, ease gun restrictions and protect President Trump against the threat of indictment. (Stolberg, Landler and Kaplan, 7/10)
The Associated Press: Analysis: Dems Meet Supreme Court Pick With Mixed Message
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, says it's all about health care. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., worries about the impact on the special counsel investigation. And Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., sees an assault that could set women's rights back decades. There's so much for Democrats to dislike about Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick. And that may be the problem. (Lerer and Peoples, 7/11)
The New York Times: As Cuomo Rallies For Abortion Rights, Nixon Questions His Bona Fides
Ever since Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced his retirement, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has held rallies, issued statements and signed an executive order, all in the interest, he said, of protecting access to reproductive rights that could be at risk under a Supreme Court poised to lean further to the right. In doing so, Mr. Cuomo, who faces a re-election primary battle in September, continues to position himself as a liberal bulwark to the Trump administration. (McKinley, 7/10)
Concord (N.H.) Monitor: Abortion In N.H. Political Spotlight Following Trump Supreme Court Nomination
From the governor’s race to the battle for congressional seats, President Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court quickly took center stage in New Hampshire politics. With U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement giving the Republican president a prime opportunity to replace the crucial swing vote on the high court with a reliably conservative justice, many supporters of women’s reproductive rights fear the court may overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 high court decision that constitutionally protected a woman’s right to have an abortion. (Steinhauser, 7/11)
KCUR: Debate Over Reproductive Rights Heats Up Again In Missouri
President Donald Trump’s newest nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court simply adds to the latest round of heightened political tensions in Missouri over reproductive rights and abortion. And, as expected, it’s already become a key issue in the state’s closely watched U.S. Senate race. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is making the Supreme Court confirmation the centerpiece of the Republican U.S. Senate candidate’s first TV ad, which began airing Monday. (Mannies, 7/10)
The Washington Post: ‘All A Little Misdirection’: Inside Trump’s Sometimes Wavering Decision On Kavanaugh
After the two couples — President Trump and his wife and federal judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and his wife — gathered in the residence of the White House for over an hour Sunday night, Trump made Kavanaugh a historic offer: to be his choice to succeed Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Yet just hours later on Monday morning, Trump seemed to waver — making a flurry of calls to friends and allies and asking them what they thought of Kavanaugh and whom he should nominate. (Parker and Costa, 7/10)
