Long road back has left Dodgers’ Dustin May changed as person – but not as pitcher

• April 21, 2025

ARLINGTON, Texas — Given all that he has been through over the past four years – two major elbow surgeries, a life-threatening experience and emergency surgery not to mention months and months off monotonous, solitary rehab – it isn’t surprising that Dustin May has changed as a person.

“Just being out of the game so long, I grew more of a respect for it, knowing it can be taken away at a moment’s notice,” the Dodgers right-hander said.

What is surprising is that May doesn’t appear to have changed as a pitcher.

Three starts into his comeback (he will make his fourth start of this season Tuesday at Wrigley Field), May has allowed just two earned runs in 17 innings while holding hitters to a .119 batting average (7 for 59) with 14 strikeouts.

“There’s always lightning coming out of that arm,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said. “That’s never been a question. During both of his rehabs, his first ’pens when most guys would be barely topping 80 (mph), low 80s, he’s sneezing out 90 without even trying.

“The arm talent has never been a question. So, no, I’m not surprised with him.”

If Tommy John surgery in 2021 and flexor repair plus a Tommy John revision in 2023 has changed May’s arsenal, Will Smith hasn’t noticed it from the receiving end.

“No. Still the same sort of stuff. Same slider, four-seam, cutter. Same mix. Still throwing hard. Still throwing nasty,” Smith recounted.

“No (change), honestly. He’s always had really good stuff. He still has really good stuff.”

As Tommy John surgery has become more and more routine among MLB pitchers, two-time Tommy John recoveries have also become more common with pitchers as accomplished as Jacob deGrom and Walker Buehler – and, soon, Shohei Ohtani – returning to the mound after second elbow-reconstruction procedures. Recovering from a second surgery is one thing, recovering prior form and success is another. Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi leads a very short list that also includes, to varying degrees, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Daniel Hudson and Jameson Taillon.

May never thought he wouldn’t recover his previous pitching arsenal.

“I didn’t think that it wouldn’t come back,” he said. “I didn’t know that it was going to be as effective as it’s been because I hadn’t pitched in so long. So the thought process behind it all – was it going to play as well as it did before? But my stuff is pretty much the same, just a tick down – which is still pretty good.”

Those ticks are hard to identify in the statistical profile created by May’s first three starts in this chapter of his herky-jerky career.

The velocity is down on all of his pitches. He averaged approximately 98 mph on his fastball over his first four seasons – even his brief return from that first surgery in 2022 when May said he was never more than “75 percent” and “never felt right.” It has been 95.1 mph this season, a drop May dismisses as temporary.

“I think it’s just early in the year, getting into the swing of things,” he said. “I mean, I’m still only nine months out of my esophagus surgery. I’m still getting strength back. Just being able to put the jersey back on is an accomplishment in itself. Once more strength comes back and I get more back to normal, I think it’s going to tick back up.”

He is still throwing his slider/sweeper with roughly the same spin rate and movement profile. But somehow it has been even more effective. May has thrown 88 of them in his first three starts and hitters are 0 for 21 when putting it in play. According to Statcast, batters have yet to put the barrel of the bat on it.

There’s a simple explanation for that, May said, and it’s more of a mental adjustment than any physical change.

“Because I’m throwing it in the zone,” he said. “It’s not like, oh they see spin they know they can spit on it because if it’s in the zone they at least have to put a thought on it now. That’s why it’s more effective.”

Prior agreed and said that’s something the Dodgers’ pitching coaches have preached to May for years. May’s Statcast profile also shows he is throwing from a lower arm slot since his return, something that could be making his sweeper and cutter even more troublesome for hitters.

“Everybody sees that kind of movement. But it’s a unique slot. It’s a unique delivery,” Prior said. “(As a hitter) you’re protecting against, when it’s going well, 35-plus inches of spread (among his pitches).

“It’s about getting in the zone with it, making them understand you can pitch with this or you can pitch with your fastball. Then as soon as they’re geared up for fastball, that thing (sweeper) goes the other way.”

May’s stuff has always had the potential to overwhelm hitters – and did during those brief, intermittent bursts of good health. The biggest difference now, he said, is his ability to contain his emotions on the mound and pitch with more respect and understanding of “the flow and rhythm of the game … instead of getting more irritated when things don’t go my way.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sees that maturity in May, still only 27 years old despite his checkered medical history.

“I do. I think that with Dustin there’s always been a confidence in himself,” Roberts said. “But I think that the efficiency of the pitches, the flooding the strike zone, the ability to strike the secondary pitches, get the swing-and-miss when he needs it – I think the confidence is really building. It’s sustainable. I think it’s real. He’s understanding how to get major league hitters out, left and right.

‘“I think he’s certainly been through a lot in the last couple years, or even you could say the last four years. There’s been a lot of maturity. I think that he understands that more is not always more as far as effort or trying to bully hitters. He knows how to pitch, and make pitches.”

​ Orange County Register 

FTC sues Uber, alleging it signed up Uber One subscribers without their permission

• April 21, 2025

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Uber on Monday, alleging that it enrolled consumers in its Uber One subscription program without their consent and made it too difficult for them to cancel the service.

Uber One members pay $9.99 per month or $96 per year for a range of services, including fee-free Uber Eats food deliveries and cash back when they take Uber rides.

In its lawsuit, the FTC said multiple customers complained that Uber signed them up for Uber One without their permission or charged them for the service before a free trial period was over. In at least one case, a person was charged $9.99 per month even though they didn’t have an Uber account, the lawsuit said.

The FTC said Uber also made it extremely difficult for subscribers to cancel Uber One. The agency said Uber requires customers to take at least 12 different actions on at least seven screens to cancel the service. Cancellation gets even harder for consumers within 48 hours of their billing date, the FTC said, requiring them to navigate as many as 23 screens and still contact customer service.

“Americans are tired of getting signed up for unwanted subscriptions that seem impossible to cancel,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson, who has led the FTC since January after he was tapped as chairman by President Donald Trump.

In a statement, Uber said it was disappointed that the FTC chose to move forward with the lawsuit. Uber said its sign-up and cancellation process is clear, simple and lawful.

“Uber does not sign up or charge consumers without their consent and cancellations can now be done anytime in-app and take most people 20 seconds or less,” Uber said.

Uber said at one point it did require customers to contact a service representative if they wanted to cancel within 48 hours of a billing period, but that is no longer the case.

​ Orange County Register 

NCAA passes series of rules that sets table for schools to pay players directly

• April 21, 2025

By EDDIE PELLS, Associated Press

The NCAA passed rules Monday that would upend decades of precedent by allowing colleges to pay their athletes per terms of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit settlement expected to go into effect this summer.

The nine proposals passed by the NCAA board were largely expected but still mark a defining day in the history of college sports. An athlete’s ability to be paid directly by his or her university is on track to be enshrined in a rulebook that has forbidden that kind of relationship for decades.

For the NCAA rules to officially go into effect, the changes prescribed by the House settlement still have to be granted final approval by a federal judge, whose hearing earlier this month led to questions about potential tweaks before the new guidelines are supposed to go into play on July 1.

The changes will eliminate around 150 rules and alter many others in the NCAA’s sprawling rulebook. They essentially codify measures set up by the settlement, including:

• Modifying bylaws to allow schools to pay the athletes directly.
• Eliminating scholarship limits for teams, while also setting roster limits that are designed to replace the scholarship caps. Some details of the roster limits, which were a key sticking point in the April 7 hearing, will be finalized later.
• Establishing annual reporting requirements for schools that pay athletes; a payment pool is set to be approximately $20.5 million for the biggest schools beginning next academic year.
• Setting up a clearinghouse for all name, image and likeness (NIL) deals that come from third parties and are worth $600 or more.
• Granting authority to an enforcement body being developed by the conferences named as defendants in the lawsuit to enforce the new rules passed to implement terms of the settlement. This includes compliance with roster limits, payment of direct benefits to players and meeting requirements for the third-party deals.

​ Orange County Register 

In a win for dictators, State Department rolls back advocacy for international human rights

• April 21, 2025

In recent times, America has had an interesting track record when it comes to human rights. On the one hand it seems that the United States has claimed the mantle of responsibility for taking world governments to task about respecting the rights of their people and the human dignity of the populations that they invade. On the other hand, when America has launched its own wars, the massacring of civilians, “enhanced interrogation techniques”, and indefinite detentions have been commonplace.

Such a mixed history has led nations who have been chastised by American politicians to respond with accusations of hypocrisy. While charging someone with hypocrisy appears to be a natural reflex for many of us, when the advice is good, it doesn’t matter that the messenger fails to live up to it and the US has successfully disincentivized rights violations across the globe despite its own lapses.

It should go without saying that the continuous proliferation of human rights has been a wonderful development in history. Calling it a “proliferation” is somewhat misleading – it suggests that human rights are being granted instead of being respected. It’s an important distinction because when a government institutes policies that restrict what it can do to its population, it is not creating rights, it is acknowledging what was already there and respecting it.

Late last week, NPR reported that the State Department is changing its guidelines on its yearly international human rights reports, notably to exclude much of the criticism levied against regimes who commit abuses.

These include things like corruption, the sexual exploitation of women and children, “involuntary or coercive medical or psychological practices,” and “violence or threats of violence targeting people with disabilities.” What little the guidelines allow to be mentioned appears to be only that which is legally mandatory, such as “extrajudicial killings.”

The editing memo sent to those who compile the reports reportedly states that the changes are meant to make the reports consistent with the goals of the administration. If the goals of the administration require a lack of cognizance about human rights, then the goals of the administration are in conflict with human rights. This is a brazen admission by the Trump White House that it places little importance on the rights that contribute to the fundamental welfare of humans.

Given that Trump’s second term has involved consistent attacks on our liberties, it’s clear that he sees rights, not as powerful considerations that restrict the available suite of actions, but as an impediment to his agenda – deportations, suppressing criticism, and building relationships with oppressive autocrats.

But that’s not how it works – rights are not chips that can be exchanged to facilitate some objective, they are the ultimate barrier to abuse and they supersede most other considerations. If it weren’t the case that rights take on this supreme importance, then it would be morally permissible for the state to, for example, sacrifice free speech for some marginal gain in economic output.

It could also sacrifice our right to bodily autonomy if it conferred enough utility. But notice that this is never an acceptable option: no amount of gain in some other domain can justify the government enslaving a subset of the population. In fact, there are entire ethical theories that have been discarded by some because they inadvertently entail the permissibility of such trades.

Because the Trump administration is positioning itself to make trades of this kind (as seen in his hasty deportations without due process and his attacks on free speech at universities), it is failing to respect this overriding aspect of human rights. In order to commingle with dictators and oppressors, Trump is willing to discard even the appearance of respecting the basic dignity of people – if rights are not irrelevant to some part of his agenda, then they are a minor impediment.

What is so puzzling about this is that there isn’t even a benefit that we are getting in return. How do we or anyone else benefit from America ignoring the rights violations of nations like Hungary and El Salvador? How does it help any of us that the State Department will no longer highlight the ways in which nations oppress their people?

It doesn’t help anyone except the Stalins of the world. Because the State Department reports inform many of our decisions about who to engage in good terms with, it’ll only empower dictators to entrench themselves and commit more atrocities. With this retreat from world-leading rights advocacy, isolating threats to the sovereignty of other nations, and destructive tariff program, Trump is single handedly bringing America’s world leadership closer to an end.

Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group.

​ Orange County Register 

How stocks, bonds and other markets have fared so far in 2025

• April 21, 2025

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS and DAMIAN J. TROISE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Global financial markets have been turned upside down this year by President Donald Trump’s burgeoning trade war. Markets are not in full panic, but the double-digit declines in major U.S. stock indexes are testing nerves.

U.S. markets had been on a two-year tear coming into 2025, though many believed that stock prices had become overinflated. Trump’s trade war pushed that sentiment into hyperdrive. The S&P 500 has tumbled 13%, and U.S. markets are being outpaced in Europe, Asia, and just about everywhere else.

Trading in traditional “safe havens” like U.S. Treasurys and the dollar has become erratic and unpredictable. On Monday, the dollar struck a three-year low and U.S. Treasury yields have been soaring. Typically, yields would fall as investors seek a safe place to park their money. U.S. Treasurys no longer appear to provide the shelter they once did.

Only gold, a commodity traded internationally, has maintained its reputation as a safe zone. The price of gold is hitting one record high after another.

Here’s a roundup of what is happening in various segments of the financial market:

Stocks

U.S. stocks have been losing ground in a sharp reversal after two years of stellar gains.

The S&P 500 index, which is considered a benchmark for the broader market’s health, is down more than 13% in 2025. It gained more than 20% in both 2023 and 2024.

The benchmark index is already in “correction,” having fallen more than 10% from the record it set in February. There have been only five weeks in which it’s ended in positive territory this year and with Monday’s decline it’s moving closer to bear market territory, or a 20% drop from recent highs.

It’s worse on the growth-focused Nasdaq composite, which has plunged 19%.

Overseas markets have largely performed much better than their U.S. counterparts.

Bonds

Treasurys, typically considered a less risky area of the market, have been volatile throughout the year.

The 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates and other loans, was as high as 4.80% in January but then fell until Trump announced the broad details of his tariff policy in early April. Yields then began to spike this month. The recent jump in bond yields, which happens when bond prices fall, reflects rising anxiety about inflation and a potential recession.

Treasury bonds are essentially IOUs from the U.S. government and they’re how Washington pays its bills. Bond prices typically move in the opposite direction of stock prices, but prices for both have fallen in tandem. That raises more significant concerns, namely a loss of faith in the U.S. as a safe place to invest.

Gold

In all of the economic uncertainty, gold is soaring — setting record after record in 2025.

New York spot gold hit another all-time high Thursday, closing at about $3,343 per Troy ounce — the standard for measuring precious metals — per FactSet. The price is up nearly 27% this year.

Gold futures rose to more than $3,432 Monday.

Interest in gold spikes in times of uncertainty as investors seek a safe place for their money, although there can still be some volatility. The price of spot gold fell for three straight trading days following Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2, for example, but soon rebounded overall.

Foreign Exchange

The U.S. dollar, the world’s reserve currency, is falling under the weight of uncertainty over tariffs, inflation and the direction of the U.S. economy.

The U.S. dollar is down a steep 9% for the year when measured against a basket of other currencies, including the euro, Japanese yen, Canadian Dollar and Swiss franc.

The dollar began to erode almost immediately in 2025, but those losses have accelerated over the past two months. A weakened dollar means it is more difficult for the U.S. government, businesses and consumers to borrow money at lower rates. It also means less purchasing power for U.S. consumers and the potential for stunted economic growth.

Oil

There is good news and bad news about energy prices. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. on Monday was $3.15, down sharply from $3.67 at this time last year. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that energy prices fall when people start anticipating an economic slowdown. Factories produce less, families call off vacations and businesses cut travel expenses.

Oil prices hit a four-year low this month with anxiety over the impact of tariffs on global economic growth sinking in.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, stood at around $63 per barrel as of midday Monday. That’s down nearly 14% year to date. And Brent crude, the European standard, was just above $66 — down nearly 13% since the start of 2025.

Economists are warning that the steep tariffs Trump is pursuing could cause a recession, which could carry significant implications for the supply chain and jobs in the energy sector.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has continued to undulate.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency has been on a rollercoaster since the start of the year — with the volatile asset climbing to more than $109,000 ahead of Trump’s inauguration in January, only to dip under $75,000 amid wider market sell-offs this month. As of midday Monday, bitcoin’s going price was above $88,000, per CoinMarketCap.

That’s more than $6,000 lower than what bitcoin was trading at the start of 2025 — but still significantly higher than in recent years. At this time last year, bitcoin traded around $65,000. And in April 2023, months after the November 2022 collapse of FTX crushed crypto, the digital asset went for under $30,000.

Trump, once a crypto skeptic, became a major promoter of the industry throughout his campaign — and last month, he signed an executive order establishing a government reserve of bitcoin.

​ Orange County Register 

OC baseball Top 25: Orange Lutheran, Cypress move up in the Top 10

• April 21, 2025

This week’s Orange County high school baseball rankings, as of Monday, April 21.

Notable this week: Huntington Beach returned to Sunset League action and swept Orange County’s then-No. 4 team Los Alamitos in three league games. … Orange Lutheran swept Santa Margarita in three Trinity League games, so those two teams swap positions in this week’s rankings. … Cypress climbs two berths after beating Foothill in two Crestview League games. … Newport Harbor rises after a three-game Sunset League sweep of Fountain Valley. … San Clemente returns to the Top 25.

ORANGE COUNTY BASEBALL TOP 25

(Records through Sunday, April 20)

1. Huntington Beach (15-2): The Oilers swept Los Alamitos in a Sunset League three-game series by scores of 3-2, 8-1 and 7-2. Ethan Porter had the walk-off hit in the 3-2 win, Jared Grindlinger pitched four no-hit innings in his outing and Jayton Greer on Friday had three hits including a home run and drove in four runs in the 7-2 win. Huntington Beach plays second-place Newport Harbor in three league games this week starting with a home game Tuesday.

Previous ranking: 1

2. Orange Lutheran (14-4): The Lancers shut down and swept Santa Margarita three-game Trinity League series by scores of 3-0, 4-0 and 1-0. Colt Peterson pitched a two-hitter in the first game. Gary Morse, Caden Miller and Tristan Ramos combined to shut out the Eagles in the 4-0 game and Sam Principe pitched a three-hitter in the 1-0 win. Orange Lutheran plays Servite in a three-game league series this week, beginning with a game at Servite on Tuesday.

Previous ranking: 3

3. Santa Margarita (11-10): The Eagles pitched well last week, including a fine effort by Brennan Bauer in which he gave up one run in six innings, but their batters struggled in three shutout losses to Orange Lutheran last week. Gavin Spiridonoff hit .333 for Santa Margarita during the three-game series. Santa Margarita plays JSerra in a three-game league series that starts Tuesday at Santa Margarita.

Previous ranking: 2

4. Cypress (14-9): The Centurions have won six of their past eight games including a two-game sweep of Foothill in a Crestview League series last week by scores of 5-3 and 9-1. First baseman Paul Dominguez homered and drove in five runs, catcher Noah Johnson knocked in a pair of runs and pitcher Tate Belfanti threw five scoreless innings. Cypress this week plays El Dorado in a two-game league series that begins at El Dorado on Wednesday.

Previous ranking: 9

5. Los Alamitos (15-7-2): The Griffins took on Orange County’s No. 1 team last week and lost the three Sunset League games to Huntington Beach. Los Alamitos, which is 8-7 in league, does not play any league games this week, with the only game on the schedule a nonleague game at Mira Costa on Saturday.

Previous ranking: 4

6. Villa Park (16-5): The Spartans beat El Modena in two Crestview League games, 7-2 and 5-1. Gunner Santillo  was 5 for 7 with three RBIs and Dom Gutierrez was 4 for 7  with four RBIs. Villa Park, in second place behind Cypress with a 5-3 league record, plays three nonleague games this week against Pacifica, Bishop Amat and Ocean View before resuming league play against Foothill in two weeks.

Previous ranking: 7

7. Foothill (15-8): The Knights dropped two Crestview League games against Cypress, 5-3 and 9-1. Sean Green had two hits in both of those games. The Knights have two league games against El Modena this week, starting with a home game Wednesday.

Previous ranking: 5

8. JSerra (9-10): The Lions needed Trinity League victories and got them last week, taking two of three games against Mater Dei. JSerra lost the first game 2-1 and then won the next two 6-0 and 6-2 to improve its league record to 4-5. The Lions play Santa Margarita in a crucial three-game league series this week, with the first game Tuesday at Santa Margarita.

Previous ranking: 8

9. El Dorado (17-5): The Golden Hawks beat Crean Lutheran 3-0 in a nonleague game, their only game last week. Logan Steenburgen pitched the shutout with seven strikeouts. El Dorado, 3-3 in the Crestview league, plays league-leading Cypress (6-2) in a league series this week starting with a home game Wednesday.

Previous ranking: 10

10. Servite (12-9): The Friars were swept by Trinity League-leading St. John Bosco by scores of 4-1, 7-0 and 5-1. Servite is 3-6 in league. The Friars play Orange Lutheran in a three-game league series this week starting with a home game Tuesday.

Previous ranking: 9

11. Mater Dei (13-8)

Previous ranking: 11

12. Trabuco Hills (15-6)

Previous ranking: 13

13. Aliso Niguel (17-5)

Previous ranking: 14

14. Fullerton (13-7-1)

Previous ranking: 12

15. Newport Harbor (17-5)

Previous ranking: 16

16. Corona del Mar (11-12)

Previous ranking: 20

17. San Juan Hills (12-8)

Previous ranking: 23

18. Laguna Beach (18-3)

Previous ranking: 18

19. Fountain Valley (11-9)

Previous ranking: 15

20. Edison (11-10)

Previous ranking: 17

21. Marina (11-11)

Previous ranking: 21

22. Woodbridge (16-7)

Previous ranking: 19

23. San Clemente (11-9)

Previous ranking: Not ranked

24. Mission Viejo (11-11)

Previous ranking: 22

25. Canyon (15-6)

Previous ranking: Not ranked

​ Orange County Register 

Sarah Palin tells defamation trial jury that Times editorial ‘kicked the oomph’ out of her

• April 21, 2025

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin testified Monday at a defamation trial that an editorial about gun control in The New York Times in 2017 was devastating and “kicked the oomph” out of her.

The former Republican candidate for vice president answered questions in Manhattan federal court at a trial of her libel claims against the newspaper. She seeks unspecified damages.

“This was the gamechanger,” Palin said of the effect on her life after the newspaper in June 2017 published an editorial about gun control. “I felt defenseless. It just kicked the oomph right out of you.”

The editorial was created after U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was wounded when a man with a history of anti-GOP activity opened fire on a congressional baseball team practice in Washington.

In the editorial, the Times wrote that before the 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that severely wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and killed six others, Palin’s political action committee had contributed to an atmosphere of violence by circulating a map of electoral districts that put Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized crosshairs.

In a correction published less than a day later, the Times said the editorial had “incorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting” and had “incorrectly described” the map.

But Palin said the correction didn’t name her or restore her reputation, leaving it hard to overcome “when the loudest voice in the room, the most credible, biggest publication, was making things up about me.”

Last week, former Times editorial page editor James Bennet cried as he apologized to Palin from the witness stand, saying he “blew it” when he inserted the incorrect information in the editorial.

He said he was “really upset, and I still am, obviously.”

In February 2022, a jury found against Palin’s libel claims, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan last year revived the case, citing errors made by the trial judge.

​ Orange County Register 

Supreme Court appears likely to uphold Obamacare’s preventive care coverage mandate

• April 21, 2025

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold a key preventive-care provision of the Affordable Care Act in a case heard Monday.

Conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, along with the court’s three liberals, appeared skeptical of arguments that Obamacare’s process for deciding which services must be fully covered by private insurance is unconstitutional.

The case could have big ramifications for the law’s preventive care coverage requirements for an estimated 150 million Americans. Medications and services that could be affected include statins to prevent heart disease, lung cancer screenings, HIV-prevention drugs and medication to lower the chance of breast cancer for high-risk women.

The plaintiffs argued that requirements to cover those medications and services are unconstitutional because a volunteer board of medical experts that recommended them should have been Senate- approved. The challengers have also raised religious and procedural objections to some requirements.

The Trump administration defended the mandate before the court, though President Donald Trump has been a critic of the law. The Justice Department said board members don’t need Senate approval because they can be removed by the health and human services secretary.

A majority of the justices seemed inclined to side with the government. Kavanaugh said he didn’t see indications in the law that the board was designed to have the kind of independent power that would require Senate approval, and Barrett questioned the plaintiff’s apparently “maximalist” interpretation of the board’s role.

“We don’t just go around creating independent agencies. More often, we destroy independent agencies,” said Justice Elena Kagan said about the court’s prior opinions.

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas seemed likely to side with the plaintiffs. And some suggested they could send the case back to the conservative U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. That would likely leave unanswered questions about which medications and services remain covered.

A ruling is expected by the end of June.

The case came before the Supreme Court after the appeals court struck down some preventive care coverage requirements. It sided with Christian employers and Texas residents who argued they can’t be forced to provide full insurance coverage for things like medication to prevent HIV and some cancer screenings.

They were represented by well-known conservative attorney Jonathan Mitchell, who represented Trump before the high court in a dispute about whether he could appear on the 2024 ballot.

Not all preventive care was threatened by the ruling. A 2023 analysis prepared by the nonprofit KFF found that some screenings, including mammography and cervical cancer screening, would still be covered without out-of-pocket costs.

The appeals court found that coverage requirements were unconstitutional because they came from a body — the United States Preventive Services Task Force — whose members were not nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

​ Orange County Register