Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is projecting again.

She accuses President Biden of playing politics by asking cancellation of oral arguments in Arkansas’s U.S. Supreme Court appeal of two lower court rulings holding the state’s “work rule” for Medicaid coverage is unconstitutional. She said:

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“Today’s political decision by President Biden’s administration is an attempt by the federal government to end our work requirement that was intended to specifically fit the needs of the Natural State,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “This is a politically motivated stunt designed to avoid a Supreme Court decision upholding a program that encourages personal responsibility while still providing healthcare coverage for those seeking gainful employment.”

This is a politically motivated stunt by Rutledge. Even if she were to win a Supreme Court ruling allowing the work rule, which is not currently being enforced, it’s going away. The Biden administration has said it won’t continue it, though it’s happy to hear state objections to the end of the waiver first. She loses in court she loses. She wins in court she loses.

Governor Hutchinson recognizes a new approach is needed and is working on it, along with a new way to do Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, a boon to 300,000 Arkansans that Rutledge is trying to kill in another futile Supreme Court appeal.

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More here on Arkansas’s stand-alone political play.

Federal government asks court to scrap challenge to Medicaid work requirements

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