While one hour arguments are not the norm, they are seen in ambiguous, weighty, or ground-breaking appeals on the law, in the Sixth Circuit. Here the panel has only alloted fifteen minutes per side.
Given that this is a law restricting medical care to only one sub-class of one gender classification — while endorsing full care for all other classes… I’ll venture the guess that even in the conservative Sixth in Ohio, this rings in as a violation of the civil rights of litigants, “on the basis of… sex.”
And, in a case called Bostock, one decided around two years ago, a majority of the Supremes essentially said such laws… must fall.
Add to it that it invades doctor / patient privacy, in violating federal law, by requiring providers to turn over confidential treatment records to the government of Tennessee… I’d say GOP Gov. Lee is… cooked here.
For his part, despite seeing a close family friend (one he had dinner with, in his home not three days prior) gunned down in the Covenant mass murder / school shooting, Gov. Lee looks unlikely to be able to get HIS OWN SUPER-MAJORITY GOP party to pass meaningful measures to combat… AR-15 shootings in schools. And unlikely to get more mental health dollars, either. This conundrum… smells like a failed democracy: a rogue band of brown-shirts, defying the party leader — on an essential public safety measure. And it may be even worse, on the ultra-local level, thus:
About four weeks ago, I saw a very cogent Atlantic article that suggested, at least in Sumner County, Tennessee (county seat, Hendersonville) we are witnessing a “failed” democracy. One party (GOP) super-majorities there have essentially eliminated the county elections board. They’ve done so, to get rid of the required by law BI-PARTISAN makeup of the board. The now neutered board… is just supposed to count, not “politic“. So the Sumner County Hard Right MAGA GOP… relegated the whole of the board… to a flooded basement closet, as its sole “offices”.
The message is crystal clear: only GOP/MAGA votes count in the county. Fewer than 15% of eligible voters in Sumner County ever cast ballots, at all, anymore — having decided it is… a largely futile act.
Now you know. Disgusting.
नमस्ते
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