The Legal Opposition Facing President Biden | March For Life Goes Virtual, One Of Many Changes For Anti-Abortion Activists This Year
January 29, 2021
THROW OUT THE PLAYBOOK
|Two days after PRESIDENT BIDEN took office, the first major lawsuit hit his administration and provided an early test of how much conservative legal opposition his policies may face. Andrew Chung and Jarrett Renshaw with Reuters report that Biden — for obvious reasons — won’t be able to run the same play as former PRESIDENT TRUMP of running to the Supreme Court to save his policies. Biden has not yet named his pick for Solicitor General, but that person will play a crucial role in shaping the administration’s relationship with justices. Nicole Saharsky, David Frederick and Andrew Pincus are said to be among those being considered for the position.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO THE ACA
|This week, JOE BIDEN took a number of actions to reverse the Trump administration’s health care policies, including an order for government health insurance markets to reopen for a special sign-up period. He said as he signed the directives, “There’s nothing that we’re doing here other than restoring the Affordable Care Act and restoring Medicaid to the way it was before Trump became president.” Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar with the Associated Press reports, “Failure to repeal and replace Obamacare was one of the former president’s most bitter disappointments. His administration continued trying to find ways to limit the program or unravel it entirely. A Supreme Court decision on Trump’s final legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act is expected this year.”
TOP-ED
|Charlotte Clymer opines in NBC News’ THINK that PRESIDENT BIDEN’S rejection of Trump’s trans military ban is just the beginning for LGBTQ rights. “As a proud transgender woman and military veteran, I am certainly grateful that President Joe Biden has acted quickly, as promised, with executive orders this week that banned discrimination in the federal government on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation and overturned former President Donald Trump’s trans military ban. However, these critical victories must not allow us to lose sight of all the work left to be done, particularly for transgender Americans.”
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE
|The annual March for Life is being held online today amid COVID-19 concerns, and Michelle Boorstein with The Washington Post notes the event comes at a time when the pro-life movement appears to be at a crossroads. DONALD TRUMP delivered major victories to pro-life activists, giving them three Supreme Court justices who seem to be sympathetic to the idea of overturning Roe v. Wade. But Boorstein writes Trump may have also “reinforced the perception that the institutional [pro-life] movement had become more heavily partisan.”
SCOTUS VIEWS
Can Biden Deliver On His Climate Promises?
The New York Times“Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Biden plans to curb power plant emissions by regulating them through the Environmental Protection Agency, but some legal scholars warn that the Supreme Court’s rightward shift jeopardizes this strategy. There are other inventive approaches the administration could take to advance its power goals, however, such as backstopping loans to bring new renewable, nuclear, carbon capture and storage technologies to the market.”
How The Biden Administration Should Stand Up For Abortion Rights
The Washington Post“As physicians and researchers with experience in using evidence to inform policymaking, we are thrilled with the return of facts and science to the White House. In the first days of the Biden-Harris administration, we have witnessed the prioritization of bold, evidence-based action to address the COVID-19 crisis and to confront racial injustice. We applaud these strong stances, and now urge the new administration to also step up to protect and expand abortion access.”