Want to know why so few Republicans are willing to call their president out by name as giving aid and succor to white nationalists? This is why—he'll appoint more federal judges to rule counter to federal law in cases like this.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court panel has ruled that Arkansas can block Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood over videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group.
A 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Wednesday vacated preliminary injunctions a federal judge issued preventing the state from suspending any Medicaid payments for patients who receive services from Planned Parenthood. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson ended the state’s Medicaid contract with the organization in 2015 over the videos.
This is the first case in several that didn't go against a state. Because federal Medicaid law is clear. Providers can be barred from receiving Medicaid funds if they commit fraud or violate licensing laws or the Medicaid statute. The Obama administration reminded states of this last year, in a letter sent to officials in all 50 states. States have an obligation, the administration said, "to follow longstanding Medicaid law guaranteeing that beneficiaries have the right to receive covered services, including family planning services, from any qualified and willing provider of their choice." Federal law hasn't changed in a year's time on that.
What has changed is the administration and the far-right, activist judiciary thinking they can stretch their wings now that there's a hope that the Supreme Court is going to end up on their side through more Trump appointees.
That's what is keeping Republicans on Trump's side—the long game on remaking the federal judiciary (and tax cuts, always tax cuts). Because they are on his side in this—every one of them who will not call him out by name for encouraging white supremacists, for his willingness to rip this country apart.