Sunday, June 19, 2005

The Supreme Court Nomination Blog: Analysis: Today's Washington Post

The Supreme Court Nomination Blog is a blog that will certainly become very important over the next few weeks if, as expected, Chief Justice Rehnquist announces his retirement at the end of the current term. This announcement may come Monday, 6/20/05, or within the next couple of weeks.

Tonight the blog posted an in-depth analysis of an article in today's (Sun., 6/19/05) Washington Post. I won't try to recap it here, but recommend it as important reading for those who are interested in the future direction of the Court.

Is the Justice Department Undermining the Protection of Medical Privacy?

An opinion dated June 1, 2005 but not made public until New York Times article of June 7, answers a request from the general counsel of HHS for clarification of the scope of the HIPAA criminal provision.

According to Swire’s analysis, “the OLC opinion is terribly frustrating to read. The opinion reads like a brief for one side of an argument. Even worse, it reads like a brief that knows it has the losing side but has to come out with a predetermined answer.”

Swire states that “The opinion had assumed that Congress wanted to exempt employees and thieves from criminal penalty.”