SCOTUS: States Can't Strip Planned Parenthood Of Medicaid Funding

Planned Parenthood -- and the low income patients it serves -- won a major victory yesterday:

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up two cases that could have given states broader leeway to strip funding from Planned Parenthood. 

By denying certiorari in Gee v. Planned Parenthood of Gulf Coast and Andersen v. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, the Court let stand lower court rulings that states cannot ban Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements when the group treats low-income patients. A number of states had sought to institute such bans in recent years. 

Planned Parenthood praised the Court’s decision, as the group has long argued that restricting Medicaid payments would jeopardize low-income patients’ access to potentially lifesaving services like cancer screenings and testing for sexually transmitted infections. 

Resident crank and Long Dong Silver fan Justice Clarence Thomas and two of his fellow Republican right- wingers, Justices Alito and Gorsuch, had wanted the Court to take up the cases, in the hopes of overturning lower court rulings and restricting Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements.  Surprisingly, Chief Justice Roberts and Bart O'Kavanaugh joined the four Court liberals in declining the cases.

In his opinion castigating the Court for not taking up the cases, Thomas used the dishonest, discredited argument that these Planned Parenthood affiliates had harvested and sold fetal tissue:

The opinion makes no mention of the fact that these allegations stemmed from edited videos whose producers are under indictment, and that no evidence to support them has ever been found. 

By uncritically repeating the allegation that Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue, as well as by chastising the majority for their decision not to take up the case, Thomas may be showing that he, at least, is ready to hear a challenge to Roe v. Wade. Alito and Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court appointee, may be ready as well.

Thomas is also showing he's an unprincipled zealot. And they might be ready to overturn Roe, but the country (including 52 percent of Republicans) is not.  This decision marks at least a pause in the right- wing's march against women's reproductive rights, and that's a victory.