Good news #20. SCOTUS refuses to hear two cases

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it would not grant an appeal hearing to two cases, thus leaving in place lower court rulings.

1.  They declined to hear the appeal of another challenge to the Affordable Care Act, this one based on the method by which it was passed in congress.   This is the third time that the court has made a decision that upholds the basis of the health care reform law.   As one news source put it: "The justices already ruled the law constitutional.  They're done for now."

2.  They also rejected a hearing for the State of Arkansas that wanted SCOTUS to overrule lower court decisions that struck down their law banning abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.    The court has already, however, scheduled hearings for a Texas case that set unreasonable medical requirements that would result in the closing of as many as 3/4ths of abortion clinics in the state, leaving large parts of this large state without any.

Raph