Preemption Via the Spending Power in the Idaho Abortion Case
As John Oliver says (accurately) at the top of each episode of Last Week Tonight , it has been a busy week. Indeed, last week was so busy with campus protests and Trump's immunity case, that despite writing a Verdict column and three blog posts ( here , here , and here ), I did not have an opportunity to discuss any developments in Trump's NY hush-money trial, the Harvey Weinstein ruling of the NY Court of Appeals, or Wednesday's SCOTUS oral argument in the Idaho abortion case . Today I begin to try to catch up. I expect to have something to say about the hush-money trial and the Weinstein ruling at some point. Today's essay is part 1 of my discussion of the Idaho case, focusing on the question of Congress's authority to preempt state law via the Spending power. Part 2, which will come later this week, will analyze Justice Alito's suggestion that because the statute at issue in the Idaho case--the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)--uses