The litigation seeks a court order forcing the federal veterans’ agency to step up its spending on mental health and counseling. The government’s response argues that

the courts have no authority to tell the VA how to operate and no business wading into the everyday management of a sprawling medical network that includes 153 medical centers nationwide.

The veterans are asking the judge “to administer the programs of the second largest Cabinet-level agency, a task for which Congress and the executive branch are better suited,” government lawyers wrote in court papers.

If the judge ordered an overhaul, he would be responsible for such things as employees workloads, hours of operations, facility locations, the number of medical professionals employed, and “even the decision whether to offer individual or group therapy to patients with” post-traumatic stress, the papers said.

(Paul Elias, AP/Palm Beach Post, Apr. 20). Update: Judge Samuel Conti dismisses suit as “misdirected” (Navy Times).