Last week, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that will hear arguments on the Affordable Care Act issued a disquieting order questioning the right of Democratic states and the U.S. House of Representatives to appeal a lower-court decision that threw out the law.
At the time, the composition of that panel wasn't known. It is now, and that's not making any supporter of the law feel much better. The judges are Jennifer Walker Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee who will preside; Jimmy Carter appointee Carolyn Dineen King; and Kurt D. Engelhardt, a Trump appointee. Elrod is indeed a nightmare judge, having distinguished herself in anti-abortion and anti-immigration cases. Englehardt has a "history of disturbing rulings on cases involving racial violence and injustice, as well as cases involving sexual harassment and workplace discrimination against women."
This isn't going to be a forward-thinking majority, nor one that gives a damn about the ACA and the millions and millions of people receiving health coverage and care through it. What all this means, probably, is that Supreme Court Justice John Roberts will once again be in the position of having to decide whether to save this law.
And if you thought 2018 was the health care election, just wait until 2020.