Earlier today, three career DOJ attorneys withdrew from an obscure case winding its way through the courts.
At the same time, I heard alarms sounding about an obscure, but potentially devastating attack on the Affordable Care Act by the Department of Justice, and then the reports rolled down: The Department of Justice is refusing to defend the Affordable Care Act.
Nicholas Bagley wrote about it awhile back:
In their complaint, the states point out (rightly) that the Supreme Court upheld the ACA in NFIB v. Sebelius only because the individual mandate was a tax and (rightly) that Congress has now repealed the penalty for going without insurance. As the states see it, the freestanding requirement to get insurance, which is still on the books, is therefore unconstitutional. Because it’s unconstitutional, the courts must invalidate the entire ACA—lock, stock, and barrel.
[...]
The states also argue that a mandate-less ACA is unconstitutional because it lacks a rational basis. That’s nuts too. Repealing the mandate may be bad policy, but it’s not arbitrary in any constitutional sense, for at least three different reasons.
So here is the deal. The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III is sworn to uphold the rule of law.
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III is refusing to defend the ACA, instead putting forth a lame argument which he is forcing DOJ staff attorneys to argue, which is why 3 of them withdrew from the case earlier today.
Nicholas Bagley wrote a long thread on Twitter about it just now. Here are some of the tweets:
Here we have Kellyanne Conjob Conway telling everyone before the inaugural that OF COURSE people with pre-existing conditions would be taken care of.
Call bullshit with me. LOUDLY, PLEASE. Because this whole argument, lame as it is, that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III is making so Trump will once again say his name in a cabinet meeting (maybe but probably not) is designed to send a clear message to us.
Are you listening? Here is the message: Die. They want your Social Security, they want your Medicare, they want your Medicaid, and they want your life. On a fcking silver platter, please, after you've handed your assets over to the grim Trump reaper at the door.
Welcome to the Fourth Reich, where fascism comes wrapped in a flag carrying a cross with a shiv hidden in it.
