WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that states may not back out of promises made to end mass lawsuits such as one in Texas over the state's allegedly slipshod performance in providing health care to poor children.
Once state officials sign onto federal court agreements called consent decrees, federal judges have the power to see that states live up to the bargain, the high court said.
"Federal courts are not reduced to approving consent decrees and hoping for compliance," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the court. "Once entered, a consent decree may be enforced."
Consent decrees are a relatively common method of resolving class action lawsuits against public officials and agencies over such things as health care, education and prison conditions. The Texas health care case is typical in that state officials, while not admitting wrongdoing, signed a consent decree that agreed to make improvements.
Two years after the 1996 agreement, lawyers for poor children returned to federal court to complain that Texas was still failing to provide services required under the federal Medicaid law.
The case immediately affects about 1.5 million Texas children who rely on the government for health and dental care.
The case is Frew v. Hawkins, 02-628.
2004-01-14 16:06:28 GMT