But whatever comes of the standing argument (something that we knew would be raised), the outcome of the case should not turn on whether it is “good” for Members and staff to get federal health benefits. Congress decided that they should not. If that decision was wrong, Congress itself controls the remedy. It can repeal the mandate of equal status that it adopted.
But so far it hasn’t. In a nation of laws, it is not for the Executive Branch or the judiciary to do it for them. To say that Senator Johnson, for insisting on fidelity to the law, is engaged in a “political stunt” is quite disappointing. I would have not have thought we’d come to the point where convenience trumps the rule of law.