Vox Sentences: At least four Supreme Court justices might want to gut Obamacare

1. The case that could gut Obamacare

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell, who is the named defendant in the case. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

• The Supreme Court is taking King v. Burwell, a case which could invalidate Obamacare insurance subsidies in the 36 states that use federally run insurance exchanges. Here's a rundown of why Obamacare critics think they have a case.

  [Vox / Adrianna McIntyre]

• Because it takes four justices to agree to take a case, this means that "at least four justices — and maybe more — are considering gutting Obamacare in 36 states."

  [Vox / Sarah Kliff]

• Kick out Obamacare’s subsidies and even its architects think it will collapse.

  [Center for American Progress / Jonathan Gruber]

• The people who wrote Obamacare think this is all nuts; they meant for people in federal exchanges to get subsidies.

  [Vox / Sarah Kliff]

• Philip Klein has the best argument I've seen for the merits of the case, and the idea that the subsidies were supposed to incentivize states into setting up their own exchanges.

  [Washington Examiner / Philip Klein]

• The case could mean 7.1 million people lose $36 billion in subsidies in 2016.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

2. Oh, they're just advisors

A peshmerga fighter uses milan weapons during training on October 02, 2014 in Hammelburg, Germany. The new US troops will be used to train peshmerga fighters and Iraqi government forces. (Timm Schamberger/Getty Images)

• The US is sending 1,500 more troops to Iraq to "advise and assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces" fighting ISIS.

  [NYT / Helene Cooper]

• "With Friday's announcement, the number of American troops in Iraq will surpass 3,000, an aggressive near-doubling of the troop total."

  [The Atlantic / Adam Chandler]

• This comes after months of tension between Obama and his generals over the role of ground troops; the military appears more enthusiastic.

  [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

• This falls short of sending US troops into combat against ISIS, which Obama has repeatedly promised not to do.

  [NYT / Michael Shear and Michael Gordon]

• The case against: "a larger American ground presence could serve as a greater recruiting tool for ISIS leadership and cost American lives in an unending battle."

  [Brookings / Robert Hein]

3. Meet Loretta Lynch

Loretta Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and likely next Attorney General. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

• Loretta Lynch, the US attorney for Brooklyn (and Queens and Staten Island and Long Island), is Obama's nominee to replace Eric Holder as Attorney General; she'll be the first black woman to hold the post.

  [NYT / Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Matt Apuzzo]

• Lynch, a lifelong prosecutor, has mostly done white collar crime cases, but also worked on the war crimes tribunal in Rwanda, prosecuted NYPD officers who raped and beat a man in their precinct office, and is currently prosecuting newly reelected Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY).

  [Vox / Jenée Desmond-Harris and Dara Lind]

• Jeffrey Toobin, who worked as an assistant US Attorney with Lynch, says she will "almost certainly" continue Holder's work on voting rights.

  [CNN / Jeffrey Toobin]

• Interesting comments from Lynch on mass incarceration, via Liliana Segura: "Arresting more people or building more jails is not the ultimate solution to crime in our society … I see these young men, who are predominantly black, I see not only the lives that they take, but the lives of these young men."

  [The Crime Report / Graham Kates]

• We don't have much sense of Congress's opinions, but Ted Cruz is pushing to delay confirmation until the new Republican Senate takes office.

  [National Journal / Lauren Fox and Marina Koren]

4. Misc.

• By far the best way to fight global inequality: open the borders.

  [New Republic / Eric Posner and Glen Weyl]

• French president François Hollande says he won't run again if unemployment doesn't drop.

  [NYT / Alan Cowell]

• The kin selection / group selection debate, explained.

  [Scientific American / Eric Michael Johnson]

• If you also feel bad about not having started Serial yet, this is a good overview.

  [Vox / Libby Nelson]

• One of the jurors who helped send corrupt former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards to prison voted for him in a House election this year; Edwards faces a runoff.

  [Political Wire / Taegan Goddard]

• Stephen Hawking's research, explained.

  [Vox / Joey Stromberg]

5. Verbatim

• "Once, at a party, Diane started telling a funny story about a time Jack parked the car weird, but halfway through she realized the story wasn’t actually that funny and made Jack look pretty bad, and that it had occurred around a time in their life together that they don’t talk about much, because it was a hard time when they were both drinking a lot and not really communicating."

  [The Hairpin / Monica Heisey]

• "I have a bigger thumb than the person behind the deli counter probably does, when it comes to rap music."

  [Fader / Leon Neyfakh]

• "Between 2005 and 2012, nearly one [Border Patrol] officer was arrested for misconduct every single day."

  [Politico Mag / Garrett Graff]

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