Arkansas officials join in mootness plea
on Jun 15, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Lawyers for Arkansas state officials sued in a test case on health care benefits for needy children have told the Supreme Court that they agree that their appeal is now moot. They stressed, however, the importance to them and to officials in other states of having their defeat in lower courts wiped out and that ruling vacated. Their petition is Selig, et al., v. Pediatric Specialty Care, et al. (docket 06-415).
Medical care providers, children and parents who won the Medicaid benefits case in the Eighth Circuit Court had notifed the Justices on June 1 that they had decided to dismiss all of their claims against Arkansas officials. A post discussing their filing can be found here.
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The state officials, in response to that “suggestion of mootness,” said that the unilateral withdrawal of the claims deprived the officials “of the opportunity to obtain this Court’s review of the Eighth Circuit’s decision, and its adverse implications for the administration of state Medicaid programs.” Under the lower court ruling, those officials argued, state Medicaid officials in Arkansas and elsewhere “can be liable for millions of dollars in their individual capacities.” Thus, they argued, if the lower court ruling is not ordered vacated, they would resist the dismissal of their appeal.
The response to the mootness suggestion can be found here.
