I'm Brian Lerer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Monday, September 13th.

On Monday, September 13th, a day when it seems like everybody is suing everybody. After a weekend when

many Americans drop politics as usual to pay tribute to the victims and heroes of 9-11,

were instantly back to business as usual. If the response to 3,000 Americans killed in the

attacks became contentious, so too in spades is the response to 660,000

Americans dying in a year and a half from the coronavirus, including in the last few weeks more

than 1,500 people a day. That's another 9-11 every two days. Almost all of them unvaccinated. But as the Biden administration

is suing Texas over the state's new ban on almost all abortions, Texas and other Republican-led

states say they're planning to sue Biden over vaccine mandates. The right to health care

and the right to endanger others by not getting health care both seem headed out of the hands of public health officials and politicians and into the hands of the lawyers.

When Biden was asked about the possibility of being sued over a supposed right to not get vaccinated, he said this, which begins with the words, have at it.

Have at it. Look, I am so disappointed that particularly some of Republican governors

have been so cavalier with the health of these kids,

so cavalier with the health of their communities.

This is, we're playing for real here.

This isn't a game.

With me now is the perfect person to talk about this confluence of

politics and law. Emily Bazelon, New York Times magazine writer, Slate Political Gapfest,

weekly podcast team member, and the Truman Capote Fellow at the Yale University Law School.

And maybe it all comes together in one of Emily's pieces for the Times recently called

how the pandemic changed abortion access. Emily, thanks for starting your week with us. Welcome

back to WNYC. Thank you so much for having me. So glad to be here. Can you start by laying out a little bit

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