Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,

where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges.

If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh.

That's public health question at jh.edu for future podcast episodes.

Today, a change in the courts with major implications for health.

I speak to Judge David Tatel, who recently

took senior status on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after joining the court in

1994. He was appointed to fill the seat created by the appointment of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

to the Supreme Court. Previously, he worked as a civil rights lawyer

inside and outside of the federal government.

Our conversation focuses on a recent Supreme Court case

with big implications for health agencies.

Let's listen.

Judge Tatele, I am thrilled for you to be here with me on public health on call. I'd love for you to start by introducing yourself a little bit to our audience.

Yes. And thank you, Josh, for inviting me. My name is David Tatele, and I am a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. I've served on that

court now for almost 30 years. And for the previous 30 years, that is after I graduated from law

school, I practiced law as mostly as a civil rights and education lawyer. Now, if I'm not

mistaking, the court that you serve on is often involved in cases that involve

health agencies that are implementing policies, and those policies may be challenged for one

reason or another. Yes, that's exactly right. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

obviously sits in the District of Columbia, and it in effect presides over the federal government.

And it hears cases from most all federal agencies, including the ones that are most responsible for promoting public health, like the Food and Drug Administration,

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