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riversedge

(70,245 posts) Sat Jun 16, 2018, 05:45 PM Jun 2018

DOJ official quits amid @JeffSessions -#TRuMP attack on people with pre-existing conditions

Drats. Looks like we are losing a good Fed employee. damn.

Jeff Sessions
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

https://shareblue.com/doj-resignation-joel-mcelvain-obamacare-preexisting-conditions/
DOJ official quits amid attack on people with pre-existing conditions
By Caroline Orr -
June 13, 2018

................................

A senior official at the Department of Justice (DOJ) has resigned in the wake of the Trump administration’s controversial decision to advocate for striking down the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions.

The DOJ official, Joel McElvain, submitted his resignation letter on Friday, the morning after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the administration would argue in court that key parts of the ACA, including consumer protections for those with pre-existing conditions, are unconstitutional.

McElvain’s departure “highlights internal frustration generated by the decision,” according to the Washington Post, which first reported on his resignation late Tuesday afternoon.

He worked at the DOJ for over 20 years.

When the DOJ said last week that it wouldn’t defend the ACA’s protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions, it broke with decades of historical precedent by refusing to uphold existing federal law.

In defending the extraordinarily unusual move, Sessions said the DOJ had adopted the position with Trump’s explicit approval.

Besides breaking precedent, the decision also reversed “years of legal work McElvain and the Justice Department had performed on the issue,” the Post reported.

According to the paper, McElvain — described by DOJ employees as an “expert lawyer” and a “well-liked boss” — led a team that defended the ACA in court battles. He and his team were honored for their work in 2013 with the Attorney General’s Award for exceptional service.............................................

5 replies

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Highlight:

DOJ official quits amid @JeffSessions -#TRuMP attack on people with pre-existing conditions (Original Post) riversedge Jun 2018 OP

Long live Joel McElvain! Anon-C Jun 2018 #1

And the purge continues. LastLiberal in PalmSprings Jun 2018 #2

Exactly what they want. Get rid of the people of conscience. enough Jun 2018 #3

Unprecedented evil resides in the Oval Office. MoonRiver Jun 2018 #4

If he had stayed he would have been reassigned to the immigration $ machine. Marcuse Jun 2018 #5

Anon-C

(3,430 posts)

1. Long live Joel McElvain!

Reply to riversedge (Original post)

Sat Jun 16, 2018, 05:48 PM

Jun 2018

LastLiberal in PalmSprings

(12,586 posts)

2. And the purge continues.

Reply to riversedge (Original post)

Sat Jun 16, 2018, 06:59 PM

Jun 2018

Maybe he wasn't fired per se, but McElvain had just seen his entire life's work rendered moot by the Orange Shitgibbon and his Keebler Elf AG. He had enough years to retire, so off he goes to do the kind of work he loves to do. It's either that or he gets up each morning, smacks himself in the head with a brick, and then go to work in a place contrary to his beliefs and morals.

Well done, Mr. McElvain.

It's notable that this didn't happen in the dark. Someone made damned sure the world knew that McElvain had quit, and what kind of work he had done, and that he was not going to work to undo it. It's another form of protest.