CHARLES CONDON: The 11th Circuit Can Put An End To Political Lawfare

Although the previous administration has ended, its regulatory approach remains, harming seniors, American businesses, and the economy. The Trump administration has worked to reverse some of those policies at a rapid pace, but change does not come from the executive branch alone. The courts also play a vital role.

In recent weeks, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in a case that could overturn one of the Biden administration’s ugliest policies: using the levers of federal power to punish political opponents. Florida is challenging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) over a sudden reinterpretation of Medicaid rules and shining a light on the seeming double standard that led CMS to cut off funding for vulnerable patients in red states while permitting blue states to move forward with gender affirmation operations.

As National Review has reported, the Biden administration suddenly dusted off obscure Medicaid rules and began imposing new restrictions on Medicaid dollars. (RELATED: Federal Judge Sides With Texas, Strikes Down CMS Medicaid Tax Funding Rule)

For decades, in both red and blue states, long-standing financing arrangements helped hospitals optimize the resources that support the mission of caring for vulnerable patients. Then, without warning, CMS declared those arrangements illegal. The result: red states like Florida, Texas, and Missouri were punished, while blue states like California got a free pass.

Per NRO’s reporting, e-mails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal that CMS made these decisions at the same time consultants were pressing the agency to cut off federal funding to states like Florida. One email even suggested this was done to pressure them into curbing conservative immigration enforcement policies.

Republican and Democratic administrations alike had long respected the flexibility in the structure and application of Medicaid funding. That is why the sudden crackdown stood out as political rather than policy driven.

To be clear, it is wrong when Republicans twist the law to target their opponents, and it is wrong when Democrats do it. In this case, it was Democrats doing the targeting, and it must be addressed.

The official driving this effort made the double standard unmistakable.

Rory Howe, the CMS staffer leading the charge to cripple red-state Medicaid financing, was at the very same time approving the use of Medicaid dollars in Washington State to cover gender affirmation operations. In other words, while red states were being punished for financing practices that had existed for years, blue states were rewarded with brand-new uses of Medicaid funds that had little to do with protecting the poor or vulnerable.

President Donald J. Trump was a personal victim of this type of lawfare. When Biden and his allies failed to stop him at the ballot box, they turned to the courts, unleashing a blizzard of indictments designed not just to prosecute but to paralyze his campaign and destroy him personally. CMS ran the same playbook against conservative governors to drown them in legal and bureaucratic warfare.

For states like Florida and Texas, the practical consequences are severe. Losing Medicaid dollars under these new restrictions would leave massive holes in state budgets, forcing officials to choose between raising taxes and letting rural hospitals close. Ordinary Americans would lose access to care because of decisions driven less by policy than by politics.

The law should not be twisted into a partisan tool to hammer opponents and help friends. Technical jargon may make this fight sound narrow, but the larger concern is obvious. If federal agencies can reinterpret rules to punish some states today, nothing prevents them from targeting different groups tomorrow.

As we have seen over the past decade, lawfare corrodes faith in our institutions. Americans begin to believe the system is rigged, because too often, it is. The only way to stop that spiral is for the courts to draw bright lines and say no.

A proper decision by the 11th Circuit will restore limits on partisan executive power and ensure that regulation is not used as a weapon of political convenience.

Targeted retribution, whether by Republicans or Democrats, must never again become a feature of American governance. Here’s hoping the 11th Circuit agrees and acts accordingly.

Charles Condon served as the 49th Attorney General for the State of South Carolina.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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