Heather McCabe
@profwaltermac.bsky.social
Law Professor at SLU - JD/MSW - fueled by coffee and anxiety while working at the intersection of law, social work, & public health. My emphasis is on LGBTQ health equity. My work is intersectional. #TransRights is non-negotiable. Legal Epi.🏳️🌈
So grateful to be a part of this spectacular program building the #HealthLaw field. Amazing work by this year’s scholars.
SLU Law Center for Health Law Studies@sluhealthlaw.bsky.social · 9h agoFrom 9/24-26, we were honored to welcome the 25th class of #HealthLaw Scholars to SLU, a milestone year that offers an opportunity to reflect on the incredible community that has sustained it. 1/6
Since 2020, political attacks on LGBTQ and especially transgender people have dramatically escalated. Until now, these attacks have unfolded in legislatures, government agencies, and executive offices. But in 2026, this fight is being put to voters directly. Read more below. ⬇️ 🧵
One of our favorite weekends of the year is upon us — the #HealthLaw Scholars Workshop. Now in its 25th year, we are thrilled to induct 4 new scholars into the fold over 3 days of meaningful work & lots of opportunities for discussion and camaraderie.
In Alligator Alcatraz, detainees were forced into small outdoor cages for hours at a time. In Camp East Montana, detainees report beatings from guards and denial of medical care. In Delaney Hall, detainees report unsafe drinking water and retaliatory abuse for speaking up. Unimaginable cruelty.
We all need to take responsibility for making this stop and changing the tide. All of us. It cannot be on trans and nonbinary folks to do this alone.
Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 3w agoCis people do not understand how much trans people's rights have regressed in just 5 years. 5 years ago, there were none of these restrictions. 19 states banned legal recognition 21 states have bathroom bans 8 states ban gender marker changes on DLs 25 ban gender affirming care for trans youth
New in @healthaffairs.bsky.social Forefront! Kelly Gillespie & Heather McCabe, w/ Jennifer Oliva: "Professional Licensure After Chiles: Reconciling the First and Tenth Amendments." www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore... @kellygillespie.bsky.social @profwaltermac.bsky.social @jennoliva.bsky.social
“A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it would replace, according to a new preprint study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.” ysph.yale.edu/news-article...
Universal Health Coverage Could Save $1 Trillion and 114,000 Lives Every Year, Yale Study Projects
A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it
ysph.yale.edu
This is a useful piece. Handwringing is not enough. Grateful to see people doing the work for “what’s next”. More of this is needed. Those of us in policy spaces should be actively participating.
Sam Bagenstos@sbagen.bsky.social · 2mo agoAs someone who's been working in both "democratic backsliding" and "state capacity" camps, I found today's @donmoyn.bsky.social piece very useful. I've been meaning to write something myself about the tension, particularly w/r/t unitary executive theory. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-could...
The outcome of this case is most likely, in my view, to turn on whether the federal judiciary has been so corrupted by Trump that it is willing to credit obviously fabricated, fake 'scientific evidence' cooked up by RFK Jr's HHS
Matthew Cortland (they)@matthewcort.land · 2mo agoThe Trump regime has finalized a rule ending federal Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care for enrollees under 18 (separate CHIP funding for enrollees under 19). I explain what it does, HHS’s attempts to fabricate a fraudulent evidence base, and the legal challenges that might stop it
“It’s like you’re in fight mode...The stress is high. The anxiety is high. And then all of a sudden, ‘Oh, it’s magically better.’ But then you’re trying to come down off of it … and you’re like, ‘Well, what’s going to happen the next time?’” indianacapitalchronicle.com/2026/08/04/p... #Medicaid
'Powerless': Indiana families describe the toll of losing Medicaid access • Indiana Capital Chronicle
Indiana families describe delayed care, confusion and financial strain as Medicaid coverage lapses ripple across the state's health system.
indianacapitalchronicle.com
Seeing the abuse Dr. Fauci is being subjected to is appalling. I've said before, but worth repeating: I've had the good fortune to be in the audience for many of his talks. I listen to a lot of scientists- he is unparalleled in his ability to explain complex topics. Also kind, decent, and genuine.
Actual thing i just said to a colleague “if you are looking for something from a federal court that just happened yesterday, check out @chrisgeidner.bsky.social he provides links to everything he discusses.” Thank you for your work!
The ongoing investigation into the cyclospora outbreak is evidence of the dangers of gutting public health agencies. Unfortunately, we knew this was coming. Watch this clip from 2025 when APHA’s Georges Benjamin, MD, spoke with the @lastweektonight.com team.
A very good question apnews.com/article/hegs... questions difference between Hegseth's testosterone policy and transgender care for troops
Judge questions difference between Hegseth's testosterone policy and transgender care for troops
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new initiative to test and treat troops for low testosterone is facing scrutiny from a federal judge.
apnews.com
Children enter foster care because adults have already failed them. LGBTQ+ kids are disproportionately represented in foster care and are also more likely to experience rejection, homelessness, depression, and suicide after family rejection.
RFK Jr. rolls back rule protecting LGBTQ+ kids in foster care from hostile parents
The Biden-era policy that would have protected queer kids in the child welfare system, advocates say.
advocate.com
I hope people will read this article and truly take in the way anti-trans policies are impacting real people. This is not some academic debate.
Evan Urquhart@evanurquhart.bsky.social · 3mo agoI don't think we should mince words. Transphobia and hatred killed May Pollard. The Idaho legislature killed her as surely as if they'd pointed a gun at her head and pulled the trigger. Anti-trans laws were the gun. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Penguin Madagascar
Alt: Penguin Madagascar point at sign repeatedly
static.klipy.com
Sherrilyn Ifill@sifill.bsky.social · 3mo agoJudges are expected to write opinions not only for the sake of precedent, but b/c written opinions act as judicial guardrails. They help keep judges from making arbitrary or insufficiently considered opinions because they have to provide some coherent explanation for their conclusion.
Good grief. I have no words that this is so predictable these days.
Jason Scott@textfiles.com · 3mo agoI'll summarize this: Mamdani asked NYers to keep air conditioning at 78 degrees. A wave criticism hit online. A MSNBC broadcast pointed out the US Department of Energy recommends that 78 degree figure. Immediately after, the US Department of Energy deleted 6,000 web pages related to energy saving.
Today's bonus issue of "One First" argues that one of the real unifying themes of #SCOTUS's October 2025 Term is the numerous opportunities the justices *missed* to appear to be above politics—and the (entirely unnecessary) wounds they inflicted on the Court's credibility along the way:
Bonus 236: A Term of Self-Inflicted Wounds
The Supreme Court had numerous opportunities during OT2025 to act (and appear to be acting) above politics. One key theme of the term is how many it squandered.
stevevladeck.com
Comment on the government's proposal to regulate science grants: summary and links in the post. www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalrap... via @skepticalraptor.bsky.social
Comment on the government's proposal to regulate science grants
The article discusses the Trump administration's proposed regulations on federal grants, which could severely impact science research.
skepticalraptor.com
Information on birthright citizenship case including a link to the full decision.
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 3mo agoBREAKING: The Supreme Court holds that the Fourteenth Amendment protects birthright citizenship, blocking Donald Trump's executive order to end it. Roberts has the opinion for the court, which is 5-4 on the constitutional question and 6-3 on whether federal law protects birthright citizenship.
First decision impacts trans youth. We keep working. Will be reading full decision - and following for @chrisgeidner.bsky.social full analysis.
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 3mo agoBREAKING: The Supreme Court upholds West Virginia and Idaho's laws banning trans girls and women from women's sports. Justice Kavanaugh has the opinion for the court, holding that states "may" make sports eligibility based on "biological sex." www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
Just for the record, I've worked on stigma, inequalities, and pain for 20 years, & the evidence is utterly overwhelming that women are vastly less likely to have their pain adequately diagnosed and treated than men. And of course WoC are less likely than white women. Etc. cc @maybell.bsky.social
Happy Pride! Every day for Pride 2026, I will be highlighting a Black, Brown, or Indigenous queer person, because we're not whitewashing Pride this year. Today is @angelicaross.com, an amazing actress and activist and a personal inspiration to me. Please follow her and support her work!
"The Court’s behavior in the Louisiana and Alabama cases over the past six weeks can’t be reconciled with or explained by any coherent understanding of what Purcell supposedly stands for. ... The overall pattern reveals justices behaving in a way that has no obvious explanation other than politics."
231. The Death of Purcell's "Principle"
There is no coherent defense of the "Purcell principle" that can be rationalized with the Supreme Court's recent behavior in the AL and LA redistricting cases.
stevevladeck.com
ICE just reported the 19th death in immigration detention. Staff at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana found 43-year-old Mamuka Artmeladze unresponsive the night of June 4. He died less than an hour later.
ICE detainee passes away in Louisiana
Mamuka Artmeladze, a 43-year-old illegal alien from the country of Georgia, passed away in ICE custody June 4.
ice.gov
To the leadership of the American Diabetes Association: Dear Mr. Henderson and Dr. Kalyani, By now, you have probably received plenty of missives about the police action against scientists and clinicians with your own organization at your national meeting. 1/
