HOW SCOTUS COULD UNRAVEL AGENCY AUTHORITIES — The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling this month hobbling the Biden administration’s efforts to rein in greenhouse gases — but its impact could weaken Washington’s power to oversee wide swaths of American life well beyond climate change. The upcoming decision on the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate oversight could reverberate across federal agencies as the court assesses what the bureaucracy can do without explicit congressional directions — impacting everything from Obamacare protections to health-equity efforts. “A narrow reading of what the federal agencies can do is going to literally handcuff the federal government from taking action to protect Americans’ health safety and the environment,” said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law professor at Georgetown University. What could happen: Legal experts on both sides of the issue widely expect the court to side with conservatives by saying the Obama-era EPA had gone too far. But the big mystery is whether the court’s majority is prepared to go big — and open the door to a judicial crackdown on the executive branch. The courts have never precisely defined where the line between legislative and executive power lies. But they’ve repeatedly cited a “major questions” principle to knock down executive branch actions they think went too far. That includes prior decisions on tobacco regulation and, more recently, pandemic-era vaccine-or-test mandates and eviction moratoriums. What it could mean: The Health and Human Services Department is already defending decisions related to payments through the 340B program and Affordable Care Act–mandated contraceptive coverage requirements, both of which could be harder cases to win without deference to agency interpretations. But if the Supreme Court goes big and curtails executive branch authority, a wave of new legal challenges to Obamacare, health justice initiatives and even drug approvals could crash. POLITICO’s Alex Guillén and Sarah break down just some of the battles that could happen . WHAT CAN BIDEN REALLY DO ON ABORTION? President Joe Biden says he’s looking at ways to shore up abortion rights if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in the coming weeks. The problems: Legal experts say he can do little to stop states that want to outlaw the procedure. The president is looking at executive orders, he said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday night, though he avoided specifics on what those would entail. Echoing Democratic congressional leaders, Biden largely focused his remarks on electing more abortion-rights supporters to Congress in the November midterms. Yet, many Democratic officials and abortion-rights activists fear the party is unlikely to pick up enough seats in the midterms to pass comprehensive abortion-rights legislation. And even if it can, many fear that waiting until a new Congress is seated in January will be too late to prevent the harm they expect if tens of millions of people lose access to abortion. What he can do: The administration could make it easier to obtain abortion medication, protect patient privacy and ensure affordable and accessible contraception options, according to lawmakers and abortion-rights groups. White House spokesperson Alexandra LaManna told POLITICO in a statement that the administration is looking at “every possible option” and “believes we should defend the right of all Americans to make their own decisions.” The White House has repeatedly said it’s waiting for a Supreme Court ruling, which could happen as early as next week, before the administration rolls out any response — angering Democrats at both the state and federal levels who want to see Biden take a stronger and more proactive stand. “We knew this was coming and, nationally, didn't have a plan,” fumed Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) in an interview with POLITICO. “Part of my frustration is with, frankly, some of my own colleagues and peers. The other side for 50 years has had a legal strategy — where is our 50-year strategy?”
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