I'm Elizabeth Slattery and welcome to SCOTUS 101, where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court, what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

This is a special summer session edition of SCOTUS 101, and today I'm joined by Ed Wayland, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a frequent contributor to National Review Online.

Welcome back to SCOTUS 101, Ed.

Thank you, Elizabeth.

So this week, we're talking about some of the falsehoods about Brett Kavanaugh that are in the media and the Supreme Court confirmation process.

So first up, there are a few legal issues we keep hearing about in the news.

Obamacare's pre-existing conditions coverage, Roe v. Wade and abortion, and the Russia investigation.

So, Ed, let's take these one by one and explain what's going on with each of these things.

So a few red state Democrats have said that their support will hinge on how Kavanaugh views pre-existing

conditions, which sounds like they think he's running for state insurance commissioner and not

and not being appointed to the Supreme Court. So Ed, what's the deal with this one?

Well, this is almost too convoluted to describe. When I first heard it, I was really puzzled,

what was even being talked about. Look, there is a

lawsuit in Texas that involves a claim that the individual mandate under Obamacare should now be deemed

not severable from the rest of the act and that the whole act ought to fall.

This I emphasize is a case that's at the district court level.

Many experts in the field on both sides of the aisle believe that it will never get anywhere close to the Supreme Court.

And what's more, even if it did, Judge Kavanaugh has expressed views about severability

that are very much opposed to the theory here.

And even if he didn't, he would simply be replacing Justice Kennedy. In other words,

there's no reason to think that there's any prospect that this case is going to generate the

result that Kavanaugh's critics say. Okay, moving on to Roe v. Wade. This is something we've heard

...