Cortelyou Kenney, Fellow

Today, Constitution Day, is a moment to take stock of the document that has served as the bedrock of our country for more than 220 years and the importance of constitutional interpretation by the Supreme Court for women. This past Supreme Court term was a constitutional blockbuster, dealing with cases from preemption of immigration laws to the right to lie under the First Amendment. Of particular import to women was the decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act.

Most ACA supporters think of the decision in the health care cases as an unmitigated victory for uninsured Americans. However, on a 7-2 basis, the Court found that the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, which required states to expand Medicaid coverage to all adults under 133 percent of the poverty level as a condition of continuing to receive Medicaid funding, was unconstitutionally coercive, because a noncomplying state could lose all of its Medicaid funding. A majority of the Court remedied the violation by holding that the federal government could not condition all of a state’s Medicaid funding on the state’s expansion of eligibility, but only the additional Medicaid funding provided by the ACA. Many Supreme Court watchers posit there will be a wave of follow-up litigation to test the limits of other laws that are, like Medicaid, based on Congress’ authority under the Spending Clause to place conditions on federal funding to states.