Supreme Court torn over South Carolina bid to cut Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood

Supreme Court justices seemed split Wednesday over Planned Parenthood’s challenge to South Carolina Gov.Henry McMaster’s 2018 executive order barring the nation’s largest abortion provider from receiving Medicaid funding.Supporters of Planned Parenthood have argued that McMaster’s order runs afoul of the 1965 law creating Medicare and Medicaid, which states beneficiaries “may obtain” medical treatment from any qualified provider.As a consequence, they say, Medicaid patients should be able to sue for the right to choose their own “qualified provider.”The court’s three liberal justices — Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor — appeared convinced of that argument, while conservatives Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh suggested they could be persuaded to rule in Planned Parenthood’s favor.

South Carolina is arguing that such lawsuits are not permitted and that patients can make an administrative appeal if denied coverage.“Because we understand colloquially that something might be a right,” said attorney John Bursch of the Alliance Defending Freedom, “doesn’t mean that Congress has put a state on clear notice that it could be sued in federal court … and subjected to liability and attorney fees shifting if it doesn’t follow that provision.”“Telling a state that it has an obligation to do something or that it must provide something isn’t the same as saying you have the ability to sue them in federal court,” Bursch continued.At one point, Kavanaugh vented that the judicial branch “has failed to give guidance … that lower courts can follow [and] that states, providers and beneficiaries can follow.“One of my goals coming out of this will be to provide that clarity.” Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update.Please provide a valid email address.

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