Imagine, Obama’s convoluted rationale for not allowing the sale of Plan B over the counter to minors was too much, even for a Reagan-appointed judge.
This morning, Korman repeatedly slammed his hand down on the table for emphasis, interrupting the government counsel’s every other sentence with assertions like, “You’re just playing games here,” “You’re making an intellectually dishonest argument,” “You’re basically lying,” “This whole thing is a charade,” “I’m entitled to say this is a lot of nonsense, am I not?” and “Contrary to the baloney you were giving me …” He also accused the administration of hypocrisy for opposing voter ID laws but being engaged in the “suppression of the rights of women” with the ID requirement for the drug.
Frank Amanat, arguing on behalf of the administration, said that the court had overreached by ordering a particular policy rather than remanding to the agency for further review. But he could not say, in response to repeated demands from Korman, that the result would be any different if it were returned to the agency. Nor did he specify any harm that would come from making the drug more available.
“The irony is that I would be allowing what the FDA wanted. This has got to be one of the most unusual administrative law cases I have ever seen,” Korman said, adding, “I would have thought that on the day I handed down my decision, they would be drinking champagne at the FDA.”Korman said the administration had engaged in a “choreography”: “First the president makes a speech to Planned Parenthood and throws them a kiss. The next day you grant an application from 2012″ to make it available with ID for 15 and up, in an attempt to “sugarcoat” the appeal of Korman’s order to lift all restrictions. (The decision was actually announced a couple of days after the Planned Parenthood speech.)
The government didn’t argue the merits of requiring a photo ID or that the drug only be sold in locations with an on-site pharmacy, but Korman made clear why he found that to be an inadequate compromise: “You’re using these 11- and 12-year-olds to place an undue burden on women’s ability to access emergency contraception. If it’s an impediment to voting, it’s an impediment to get the drug.”
He really let the administration have it. Go read the rest.
The judge is a man who gets it. We need more like that.
I love this: “If it’s an impediment to voting, it’s an impediment to get the drug.”
Holder is a jackass. Isn’t that what the judge was really saying? Which makes Obama a jackass as well doesn’t it? Then this AM we hear that Holder wants to expand the authority of the FBI by allowing it to view ALL of our e-mail, tweets, Facebook posts, and computer search history without having any sort of a warrant and do it whenever and for whatever reason they come up with. Way to grow the police state Obama.
Nice to see that there are a few judges that can separate politics from the law. But expecting to find a majority on an appeals panel that can do so, good luck with that. If the administration appeals this, I still predict a reversal.