And While We were Watching the Russian Train Wreck…
While were watching Trump’s disgraceful performance in Helsinki on Monday, Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee to the the DC Circuit Court, handed religious fanatics a huge victory by ruling in Trump’s favor for his shift in Health and Human Services spending. The new policy is shifting up to $260 million per year in federal grants from reproductive health programs such as birth control to faith based organizations that teach abstinence only. In the ruling, McFadden said, “courts cannot review substantive objections to a non-final agency action, nor can they require formal rulemaking for a change in agency procedure.” Essentially McFadden, a long time member of the ultra-conservative Federalist society, said that the courts, who are supposed to be a check over legislative and executive authority, don’t have the jurisdiction to do just that.
The effect of this ruling is that, once again, like under Bush II, federal dollars for healthcare are being drained and sent to churches and other religious organizations.
Clearly a decision that needs overturning, and may well be. But why wait for the wheels to turn slowly? Get out there and form some churches which will qualify? The Church of the Ever Present Abortion.
1Or something else not so in-their-faces, but which see and claim reproductive health and rights to be god-given. Then, when such churches are turned down, they can legitimately claim the government is favoring some churches over others, a definite no-no. And guess which recent case these churches can cite in support of their positions: Think birthday cakes……
Despite scientific evidence that “abstinence only” doesn’t work. But they prefer pixie dust to scientific evidence anyway.
2The Fix is strong in this one.
3The Federalist Society? The same Federalist Society that backed Obama on some occasions? Maybe this particular judge never hear of the Administrative Procedures Act, the basis for a number of other courts, overturning and preventing some Trumpian type moves. Better that this judge resign rather than have the Court Administrator come into the courtroom and rip the gavel out of clutching hands right in front of everybody.
4Ah, Abstinence. Many of our legislators and church elders can’t even keep it zipped up but they expect hormone-drenched youth to do as We say.
5“courts cannot review substantive objections to a non-final agency action, nor can they require formal rulemaking for a change in agency procedure.”
The chances that these words would appear in a decision from this crank post 2020 after a Democratic President reverses Trump on smokestack particulates are actually less than zero.
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