Supreme Court rolls back federal limits on campaign finance

(WASHINGTON) — Two physician associate groups have sued the Trump administration over a federal rule limiting student loan borrowing for some graduate degree programs that impact healthcare professionals, including physician associates and assistants (PAs), nurse practitioners and other clinical providers.

The American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) and the Physician Associates Education Association (PAEA) filed a lawsuit aimed at reversing a Department of Education regulation that the plaintiffs claim violates the Administrative Procedure Act. They are separately requesting an emergency injunction that seeks to block the rule from taking effect for PA students on July 1.

The complaint also claims that the rule exceeds the Education Department’s statutory jurisdiction and is therefore unlawful. The Government Accountability Office website said the Administrative Procedure Act prescribes the minimum procedural steps an agency must follow in its administrative proceedings.

The lawsuit alleges the Education Department overstepped its legal authority by disqualifying a PA degree from being categorized as a professional degree.

The new rule entitled the Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program (RISE) — which is based on an existing regulation — finalized the definition of “professional” and “graduate” programs, restricting student loan borrowing limits to $200,000 and $100,000 total for professional and graduate degrees respectively. The $100,000 total cost for PA students is capped at $20,500 annually.

AAPA’s CEO Lisa Gables said the rule will have “devastating consequences” for the PA workforce.

“PA programs meet every element of the professional degree definition that Congress established in law,” Gables wrote in a statement. “They award entry-level master’s degrees, require rigorous clinical training, and lead to professional licensure in all 50 states.”

She added, “We are in court to ensure the law is implemented as Congress intended.”

According to the Education Department’s final regulation, pharmacy and dentistry are among the list of eleven professional degree programs –- including medicine, law and clinical psychology degrees –- eligible for the $200,000 cap, but teaching, nursing, and physician associates are now capped at the lower limit.

The median PA program tuition is nearly $97,000 for residents before fees and additional costs, according to AAPA.

The recent move is drawing widespread concern from public service advocates as the healthcare groups stress that the federal loan limits will push many students to be dependent on private student loans, which have stricter approval requirements, unfavorable interest rates, and limited repayment plan options.

The rule would harm the associations’ ability to provide member services and advocacy and the groups’ members would also suffer “negative consequences” if PA students do not have access to the higher loan amounts that allow them to attend PA programs, according to the complaint.

Rory O’Sullivan, at D.C.-based policy think-tank Arnold Ventures, argued that loan limits should be based on degree program outcomes, not what field of study the degree is in.

Wednesday’s filing comes as 24 states and Washington, D.C., sued the administration on similar grounds in May, arguing that the rule would widen the nursing shortage because the borrowing limit would disincentivize students from entering the field.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon defended her department’s rule at an annual budget hearing on Capitol Hill last month.

“These particular programs have not been reclassified as nonprofessional,” McMahon said during the House Education committee hearing. “They were never classified as professional degrees – that just wasn’t a part of the equation.”

“There’s been no other measure that has been taken to try to bring down the cost of education,” McMahon contended.

The Department of Education emphasized that loan caps are “common sense” and place downward pressure on the cost of tuition across the country.

Ellen Keast, the press secretary for higher education at the Education Department, told ABC News in a statement, “For two decades, colleges and universities have been able to charge virtually unlimited tuition, even as many student loan borrowers see little to no return on their investment.”

“During this time, tuition has risen faster than any other household expense, and 71 percent of graduates with debt report delaying major life milestones, while institutions have taken in billions at the expense of young Americans’ financial stability,” Keast said.

She added: “The Trump Administration is working to correct this longstanding imbalance by ending a system that pushed students into debt they often could not repay and by promoting access to high quality education that serves students, not institutional bottom lines.”

‘My dream of being a PA is probably shot’

Wednesday’s complaint said the rule will burden students, like Ben Pinckney from New York, and deter them from applying to PA programs. The plaintiffs said it effectively creates scenarios where those aspiring PAs are unable to afford the cost of attendance because the vast majority of PA students need the higher loan limits authorized for the “professional student” to be able to attend PA school.

Pinckney told ABC News in an exclusive interview he has dreamed of becoming a PA for years but said he’s still struggling to find an affordable graduate school within the student loan caps. The 46-year-old recent college graduate said an emergency room PA saved his life when he was the victim of a shooting years ago and that inspired him to pursue medicine as a profession.

“Not only did he save my life in the physical, but [also with] the conversations we used to have,” Pinckney told ABC News, adding “My mentality and my way of thinking changed because of the PA.”

Pinckney, who later served in the U.S. Army as a combat medic, said he voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 but believes the Trump administration’s rule is “hurting both sides” by making the PA degree harder to obtain.

“It’s less about politics and more about helping providers or potential providers get the schooling they need, so that we can go into the communities that we want to go into and help those people,” Pinckney said.

PAs treat patients under the supervision of a physician in healthcare settings, including hospitals, doctors’ offices, and outpatient clinics, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Advocates stress that the department’s decision could strain critical patient care access and the majority of students pursuing PA degrees, who will comprise a significant share of the nation’s healthcare workforce over the next decade.

Pinckney said it’s heartbreaking because his goal of becoming a healthcare provider – within an already overburdened healthcare system – remains in limbo. “If nothing changes, then my dream of being a PA is probably shot,” Pinckney said. “If nothing is done short of someone giving me, you know, a huge grant or scholarship, then this chapter for me is over,” he later added.

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(WASHINGTON) — A three-judge panel in a federal court in Alabama ruled unanimously on Tuesday that state Republicans are still blocked from using their 2023 congressional map, which would have potentially helped Republicans in November.

Alabama had moved forward with using the 2023 map after state lawmakers had said the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Louisiana v. Callais in late April cleared the way for it.

The judges, including two appointed by President Donald Trump, concluded that the high court’s recent ruling on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act has no bearing on this case, in which lower courts found the 2023 map represents a constitutional violation.

“Ultimately, we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the judges wrote in their ruling.

In 2024, Alabama had been required to use a map with two majority-Black districts, one of which was won by Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures. But in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, some state lawmakers and the governor delayed some of Alabama’s House elections, although others were held on May 19 as scheduled.

As of now, Alabama must move forward with the 2024 map, unless, the court noted on Tuesday, lawmakers want to attempt to enact a new congressional district plan at this late hour, which it is free to do. 

Figures, in a statement to ABC News, said that he also expected further legal battles. The 2023 map was expected to potentially help Republicans flip Figures’ seat in November. 

“I am pleased with the Court’s decision, but this case is still not over,” Figures said. “Although we expected the Court to reach this decision given the overwhelming evidence, we fully expect the State to immediately appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. This is a significant step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go before this fight is settled.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he is “disappointed” by the decision and said there will be an appeal effort.

“I am disappointed, but not at all surprised, that the three-judge panel has again struck down Alabama’s blandly unobjectionable congressional map that has been in place for decades. I find nothing in the U.S. Supreme Court’s vacatur order of May 11 that would provide a basis for this outcome; thus, we will immediately appeal this decision to the Supreme Court,” Marshall said in a statement.

“This is a very fluid situation, and I will do my best to keep the People of Alabama apprised of our efforts. Know this—in my mind, it is not a matter of whether we win this case, only when.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are meeting at the White House on Tuesday as the deadline nears for Congress to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Their huddle comes as Trump’s choice of Bill Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence slows efforts on Capitol Hill to renew the controversial spy program by end of day Friday, or face the first-ever lapse in the program’s legal authorization.

Democrats in both chambers have signaled objections to Pulte, contending the director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency does not have any national intelligence experience. 

As he left the Capitol on Tuesday, Johnson told ABC News Correspondent Jay O’Brien that it’s up to the president to choose whoever he wants to run the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, rebuffing pressure to change course.

“Is it time for the president to change his mind on Bill Pulte as acting DNI?” ABC’s O’Brien asked Johnson.

“It’s the president’s prerogative,” Johnson answered. “I’m going over there right now to visit with him and his team about a number of items.”

At the top of that list is FISA’s Section 702, which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant, including when those people are communicating with Americans. The program has been fully reauthorized by Congress three times since the intelligence tool was created by law in 2008.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters that Trump and Johnson are meeting “to finalize this agreement on FISA.”

“FISA has been used time and time again to stop terrorist attacks here on our homeland on American soil to prevent terrorist attacks, and that’s a critical, critical tool that we need to renew,” Scalise said.

Johnson signaled that the House is waiting for the Senate to act on FISA, a feat that will require the bipartisan support of at least 60 senators.

“We passed FISA reauthorization in the House in April. It’s still sitting over in the Senate. They’re working on another compromise bill,” Johnson told ABC News. “We’ll pass what they send.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Tuesday that he believes Trump is “weighing seriously” naming a permanent nominee to serve as director of national intelligence as Pulte’s appointment stalls FISA movement on the Senate floor. Pulte can only serve on an acting basis for up to 210 days without Senate confirmation.

Thune said he has not spoken directly to Trump about Pulte but that he’s “been in contact with somebody over there that cares a lot about this.”

“I don’t think [it’s] about replacing Pulte,” Thune said when asked about what the White House might be considering as a next step. “I think they’re weighing seriously making a long-term pick.”

Pulte is best known in the Trump administration for launching probes into several of the president’s perceived political enemies over allegations of mortgage fraud and possible misuse of authority. Targets of the investigations include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell. They’ve all denied wrongdoing.

Before the president announced he was tapping Pulte to lead ODNI in the wake of Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation, a bipartisan group of lawmakers was coalescing toward passage of a three-year FISA reauthorization. But Democrats are now balking at a long-term extension over their objections to Pulte.

“This was a bipartisan, bicameral, four-corners deal that everybody had pretty much signed off on, and the naming of Pulte to that position, although the timing arguably wasn’t the best, I still don’t think it ought to derail something that’s this important,” Thune said last Friday.

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