On today’s BradCast, the U.S. Supreme Court’s remarkable decision to punt on a ‘religious freedom’ case (for now) following the death of Scalia, and all hell breaks lose in Vegas over the weekend as Sanders supporters clash with party officials at the Nevada State Democratic Convention.
First up, some very encouraging news today about renewable energy use over the weekend in Germany. Everything else today is not quite as encouraging, beginning with SCOTUS’ extraordinary decision to not decide Zubik v. Burwell, a case related to the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare)’s mandate requiring contraceptive coverage by employers or health insurers.
Constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser, author of Injustices: The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted
, joins us to explain the Court’s latest “punt”, sending the case back to the lower courts in search of a compromise, and in hopes of avoiding another 4 to 4 split decision on the High Court as they wait for Republicans in Congress to fill the vacancy left on the Court in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February.
Millhiser details both the case itself and the Court’s 3-page non-opinion opinion [PDF] today which will, for the moment anyway, help to save access to birth control for thousands of women. He also describes why the Court made the ruling, the havoc that is expected to come from it, and why it underscores, yet again, the desperate need for a 9th Justice on the Court, despite the Senate GOP’s unprecedented decision to block hearings on any nominee from President Obama.
Then, speaking of healthcare, while Sanders’ policy for a single-payer universal healthcare program remains more popular than the policies of both Clinton and Trump, his supporters are growing increasingly frustrated with what they regard as unfair treatment by the Democratic Party establishment.
That frustration turned to fury over the weekend in Las Vegas, where the Democrats’ state party delegate nominating convention devolved into chaos as a number of Sanders supporters were disqualified, party officials denied parliamentary procedure on rules amendments, and officials from the County Sheriff’s office were brought in to clear the room as the convention was gavelled to a premature close. All in a huge fight over what might have resulted in 2 more Sanders delegates at the national convention in July.
We try to make sense of all of that (wish us luck!), before offering a preview of tomorrow’s Presidential Primary elections in both Kentucky and Oregon…
(Comments are now closed.)