The Supreme Court ruled that South Carolina may move to block Planned Parenthood from participating in the state’s Medicaid program. The decision opens the door for other states to take similar action.
According to the Court’s 6-3 decision, federal law does not automatically allow those enrolled in the Medicaid program to choose a specific medical provider.
The ruling, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, explained that Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 “permits private plaintiffs to sue for violations of federal spending-power statutes only in ‘atypical’ situations … where the provision in question ‘clear[ly]’ and ‘unambiguous[ly]’ confers an individual ‘right.'” He emphasized that the law used in the case is “not such a statute.”
“After all, the decision whether to let private plaintiffs enforce a new statutory right poses delicate questions of public policy,” Gorsuch added. “New rights for some mean new duties for others. And private enforcement actions, meritorious or not, can force governments to direct money away from public services and spend it instead on litigation. The job of resolving how best to weigh those competing costs and benefits belongs to the people’s elected representatives, not unelected judges charged with applying the law as they find it.”
“Congress knows how to give a grantee clear and unambiguous notice that, if it accepts federal funds, it may face private suits asserting an individual right to choose a medical provider,” he added, noting that while Congress “might choose to revise” a federal statute, “that is not the law we have.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in her dissent, “South Carolina asks us to hollow out that provision so that the state can evade liability for violating the rights of its Medicaid recipients to choose their own doctors.”
The case stems from a 2018 executive order signed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R). The governor said in a statement following the Supreme Court’s decision that the state is “finally victorious” after taking a stand to “protect the sanctity of life and defend South Carolina’s authority and values.”
“The legality of my executive order prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortion providers like Planned Parenthood has been affirmed by the highest court in the land,” he said.
