The Courts

FDA officials celebrated a decision by a federal judge against a Florida-based stem cell drug manufacturer against which the agency had been seeking a permanent injunction for selling adulterated and misbranded products.

The Trump administration on Friday (May 31) filed its opening brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia challenging a lower court decision to vacate key provisions of the Department of Labor’s final rule on association health plans (AHPs).

The Department of Justice and the White House have yet to respond to a May 13 letter from five House committee chairs who are seeking background material and other information on the administration’s decision to stop defending any part of the Affordable Care Act in the high-profile Texas v. Azar case, congressional aides confirm.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court is preparing to weigh in on the validity of a proposed ballot measure that seeks to expand Medicaid in Oklahoma, and the legal fight turns on a question raised by a well-known bit of mathematical minutia in the Affordable Care Act: whether the Medicaid expansion eligibility ceiling is best understood as 133% of the federal poverty level or 138% of the federal poverty level.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals announced Wednesday that it will hear oral arguments in the high-prolife lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act, Texas v. Azar, on July 9.

The Supreme Court punted back to the lower court the Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. v. Albrecht case, which focuses on whether Fosamax maker Merck should be held liable for injury to consumers even though FDA rejected the company’s proposal to include warnings on its drug label.

Five House committee chairs stepped up pressure on the Department of Justice and the White House counsel to hand over documents showing why the administration recently shifted positions in Texas v. Azar and is now calling on the courts to scrap the entire Affordable Care Act, warning lawmakers  may issue a subpoena if the administration  doesn't provide documents and a transcribed interview of Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought by May 24.

The attorneys general for five states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday (May 13) over a final rule issued earlier this month that repeals an Obama-era rule allowing union dues to be deducted from Medicaid payments made to independent home health workers.

Federal D.C. District Court Judge Richard Leon will hear arguments on May 21 in the ongoing lawsuit to overturn the Trump administration’s expansion of short-term health plans.