Lankford v. Sherman
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
451 F.3d 496 (2006)
Missouri, participating in Medicaid, offered durable medical equipment (DME) as an optional benefit to all categorically-needy recipients until 2005, when budget constraints led it to eliminate DME coverage for everyone except blind, pregnant, or child recipients; disabled adult recipients (plaintiffs) sued Missouri's social-services director (defendant), seeking a preliminary injunction and arguing the rollback violated federal Medicaid requirements of reasonable, nondiscriminatory treatment and the Supremacy Clause. The state argued its alternative options (home health care, individual exceptions) preserved access, and the district court denied the injunction.
Whether, once a state accepts the congressional benefits and conditions associated with federal law, the Supremacy Clause mandates that the state comply with all federal requirements of the law.