Daniel G. Aaron, MD, JD

I think this is right:
"We've slid into some form of authoritarianism," says Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard. "It is relatively mild compared to some others. It is certainly reversible, but we are no longer living in a liberal democracy."
www.npr.org/2025/04/22/n...

Building a bear is not artistic expression

KFF graph showing that more than 3 in 4 adults (78%) support extending the enhanced premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act Marketplace coverage, based on a KFF Health Tracking Poll from September 23-29, 2025.

Most Americans, including most Republicans and MAGA supporters, say they want Congress to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits that help make Marketplace coverage more affordable. https://on.kff.org/4q7ElGy

JAMA graphs show childhood insurance dynamics. Graph A: Medicaid/CHIP coverage vs. age. "Ever in Medicaid" peaks at 61%. Graph B: Uninsurance vs. age. "Ever uninsured" reaches 42%, while "Always uninsured" is 0%. Published Sept 24, 2025.

An estimated 61% of U.S. children have been enrolled in #Medicaid or CHIP and 42% have experienced periods of uninsurance by age 18, with insurance disruptions being more common in states with restrictive Medicaid policies.

ja.ma/474AItj

I view today's decision as yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket. This Court should have stayed its hand. Having opted instead to join the fray, the Court plainly mis- judges the irreparable harm and balance-of-the-equities factors by privileging the bald assertion of unconstrained executive power over countless families’ pleas for the sta- bility our Government has promised them. Because, re- spectfully, I cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference with cases pending in the lower courts while lives hang in the balance, I dissent.

NEW: By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to cancel Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan migrants.

KBJ, dissenting, says she "cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference" while "lives hang in the balance."
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Trump ‘Determined’ the U.S. Is Now in a War With Drug Cartels, Congress Is Told

As I argued in @amjpublichealth.bsky.social, launching a "war" against purported "terrorists" will not solve the opioid crisis and is likely to damage public health

ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2...

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

The admin’s efforts to get universities to agree to a list of demands in exchange for preferential access to federal funding isn’t just “troubling” as Ted Mitchell, prez of the @aceducation.bsky.social says in this article; it looks blatantly unconstitutional.🧵
www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Today at 1pm: @mccuskey.bsky.social, Nicole Huberfeld, and I will defy the laws of time by covering Skrmetti 🏳️‍⚧️, Mahmoud🏳️‍🌈, Braidwood💉, VanDerStok🔫, Medina🤰, Chiles🧑‍⚕️, Callais🗳️, 1st Choice🥸, & more in a mere 50min
@buhealthlaw.bsky.social @bulaw.bsky.social @busph.bsky.social

Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Program Spent Twice as Much on Administrative Costs as on Health Care, GAO Says Republican lawmakers cite Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage as a national model for federal Medicaid work requirements that are set to take effect in 2027. A new report shows the program has spent at lea...

Georgia's work reqs program spent "$54.2 million on administrative costs since 2021, compared to $26.1 million spent on health care costs." ~90% of admin. expenditures came from the federal budget "meaning that Georgia’s experiment is being funded by taxpayers around the country."

Narrator: It is not a reasonable cash price.

#FireproofingTheFDA @sjquinney.bsky.social @utah.edu

Keynote Speaker Dr. Rita Redberg @ucsfmedicine.bsky.social

cc: @medlawdan.bsky.social

#FireproofingTheFDA
Panel 2: FDA, Politics, and Public Health

(1) @sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social
(2) @pzettler.bsky.social @ohiostatelaw.bsky.social
(3) Lewis Grossman @auwclhealthlaw.bsky.social
(4) Joseph Daval @portalresearch.org

Moderator: @teneille.bsky.social @sjquinney.bsky.social

At @sjquinney.bsky.social #FireproofingTheFDA

Panel 1: Improving the Safety and Effectiveness of Medical Products

Panelists:
(1) Shannon Brownlee
(2) @saragerke.bsky.social
(3) George Horvath @uclawsf.bsky.social

Moderator: Jim Ruble @utah.edu College of Pharmacy

cc: @medlawdan.bsky.social

Thrilled to have you Michael!

Looking forward to "Fireproofing the FDA: Power, Politics, and Public Health" tomorrow! I will be on the last panel of the day: "Repairing the FDA." Kudos to @medlawdan.bsky.social @sjquinney.bsky.social for organizing!

cc: @sluhealthlaw.bsky.social @slulaw.bsky.social

Trump Administration Delays Could Stick Student Loan Borrowers With Huge Tax Bills, Lawsuit Says The Department of Education’s failure to process income-driven repayment plan applications could result in harm for millions of student loan borrowers, with some facing extra taxes, suit alleges.

The Department of Education’s failure to process income-driven repayment plan applications could result in harm for millions of student loan borrowers, with some facing extra taxes, suit alleges.

UCLA’s funds reinstated after yesterday’s court order! Thanks to the brave researchers and their amazing counsel, including Dean Chemerinsky, who brought suit. This is just another turn in the ongoing fight, but a great result for now.

Associate Professor Daniel Aaron

Associate Professor @medlawdan.bsky.social, a health law expert, is quoted in this @nytimes.com article about the FDA's approval of a drug for autism.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/h...

Thrilled that HLPP is hosting Risk and Resistance on Oct 3! Honored to celebrate @azizaahmed.bsky.social’s groundbreaking book and so grateful to our amazing co-sponsors, speakers, and panelists who will make this such an inspiring event.
#RiskandResistance
#healthlaw

#BREAKING: Over dissents from Justices Sotomayor, Kagan & Jackson, #SCOTUS grants a stay in the Slaughter case (allowing President Trump to remove the last Dem member of the FTC), *and* grants certiorari "before judgment" to decide whether to formally overrule its 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor.

ICE Is Deporting People to Africa on Nearly Un-Trackable Military Flights Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is deporting people to African countries like Ghana on military flights that are nearly un-trackable.

NEW: Air Force jets are doing ICE flights to Africa with transponders turned off, making them nearly un-trackable.

This includes the third-country removal to Ghana and another secret flight. We figured out where it landed.

From me for @rollingstone.com:

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Defense Secretary Hegseth requires new 'pledge' for reporters at the Pentagon The Pentagon is implementing new guidelines that will require journalists to sign a pledge and agree to report only approved and officially released information.

The Pentagon is implementing new guidelines that will require journalists to sign a pledge and agree to report only approved and officially released information.

Reupping my article in @amjpublichealth.bsky.social arguing that treating cartels like terorrist organizations will not solve the opioid crisis, and instead will be used to erode both public health and democracy

ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2...

Reupping my article in @amjpublichealth.bsky.social arguing that treating cartels like terorrist organizations will not solve the opioid crisis, and instead will be used to erode both public health and democracy

ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2...

Grant Boyden

“I enjoy constitutional law because the more you learn about the way government is structured and the constraints it has, the more you appreciate why our society works the way it does."

Meet 3L and Utah Law Review Editor-in-Chief Grant Boyden!

www.law.utah.edu/news-article...

2019: SCOTUS says in Rucho that state courts can address partisan gerrymandering so its okay if federal courts don't get involved.

2025: Chief Judge Kittredge of the South Carolina Supreme Court says SCOTUS needs to step in and provide a national solution.

Worth noting the recent MAHA strategy targets mental health drugs in children. As screening and prescriptions may be reduced, children will have to hope they have a "strong famil[y]" or "hope" -- two of RFK'S suggested substitutes for children's mental health

The irony (as outlined in the article) is that RFK Jr and McMahon are arguing for a particular approach to treating mental health in children - but what they’re seeking to actually eliminate isn’t treatment at all, it’s *screening.* The article outlines the obvious reasons why this is a bad idea.

RFK Jr. wants to end mental health screenings in schools. Experts say it's a bad idea Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and Education Secretary Linda McMahon are against schools giving kids standardized questionnaires about their mental well-being. But experts say they are wrong.

"U.S. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr ... want[s] schools to do away with mental health screenings and therapy. Instead, ... schools 'must return to the natural sources of mental well-being: strong families, nutrition and fitness, and hope for the future.'"

www.npr.org/sections/sho...

The Two-Speed Economy Is Back as Low-Income Americans Give Up Gains High-earners and older Americans are faring better than ever, while fortunes are sliding again for low-wage and young workers.

"Bleak employment prospects have helped tank young Americans’ views on the economy, to levels hardly seen since a prominent monthly survey began in the 1970s."