Rounding up some reviews of SCOTUS argument in appeals by doctors convicted of opioid drug dealing

As previewed in this prior post, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in two cases on Tuesday morning, Ruan v. United States and Kahn v. United States, which explored the proper legal standards when the federal government looks to prosecute doctors as drug dealers.  I have a chance to listen to part of the argument, and it was both fascinating and frustrating for all sorts of reasons — e.g., the regular use of speeding laws as a hypothetical to explore mens rea standards for a statute in which Congress expressly requires a person to act “knowingly or intentionally” struck me as deeply misguided.  The transcript is available here, and here is a round-up of some review of the argument:

From the AP, “Justices seem to favor docs convicted in pain pill schemes“

From the Courthouse News Service, “Justices grapple with drug charges for pill-mill doctors“

From The Hill, “Supreme Court grapples with drug-dealing convictions for opioid prescribers“

From Reuters, “U.S. Supreme Court mulls ‘pill mill’ doctors’ opioid convictions“

From SCOTUSblog, “In opioids “pill mill” case, justices grapple with physician intent“

From the portion of the oral argument that I was able to listed to, I came away with a sense that the doctor defendants have a reasonable chance of prevailing.