Although the Supreme Court won’t rule until June and predicting its decision is impossible for even the most seasoned experts, Tuesday hearings on the health insurance mandate's constitutionality left its supporters worried it might not survive. If the requirement falls and the rest of the law remains, chaos could follow, along with a host of unintended consequences like rising premiums and even less access to coverage than exists today.
After Donald Verrilli’s halting performance defending a national health-insurance mandate before the Roberts court on Tuesday, the White House Wednesday morning issued a statement of support for their beleaguered solicitor general. “Mr. Verrilli is an extraordinarily talented advocate who possesses a sharp mind, keen judgment and unquestionable integrity,” White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler said. “He [...]
The U.S. Supreme Court granted cert (PDF) this morning in three cases challenging several key elements of President Barack Obama’s health-care reform law: whether Congress can force Americans to purchase health care; whether all or part of the rest of the law is constitutional if that one provision is not; whether the penalty for not [...]
The majority opinion by a 6th circuit panel Wednesday upholding Obama’s health care reform law is a victory for the administration on its face. But to understand just how big a victory it is, you have to read the concurring opinion by Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton. Sutton, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin [...]
Wednesday’s appeals court ruling on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act was undoubtedly a win for the Obama Administration. The Sixth Circuit, based in Cincinnati, agreed with a previous district court ruling that the law’s individual mandate does not violate the Constitution. Challengers argued in this case, as they have in others across the [...]
Updated at 3:20 p.m. The Affordable Care Act was back in court on Wednesday, with the government and a coalition of 26 states presenting arguments in an Atlanta courtroom for and against the constitutionality of the law. Oral arguments lasted longer than expected, but observers left the courthouse today with little indication of how the [...]
The conventional wisdom among the political punditry is that 2012 Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney will be hamstrung by the health-insurance plan he helped craft as governor of Massachusetts, which included a mandate to purchase insurance. That may not be true. In conservative circles, the health-insurance mandate has become shorthand for government overreach. But while each [...]
As I noted this morning, health care reform made another court appearance today. A three-judge panel in the Fourth Circuit heard arguments for and against the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. The appellate court, reviewing two district court decisions, is just one more stop on the way to the Supreme Court, which [...]
Roger Vinson, the federal judge in Florida who said in January that the entire Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, today issued a “clarification” of his earlier ruling. (The Obama Administration had asked the judge to specify what he meant in his original decision – that the law could continue while the issue makes its way [...]
In a speech to governors, President Obama just endorsed a plan to allow states to opt out of major provisions of the Affordable Care Act just as it’s set to kick in. Saying he recognizes that not everyone is a member of the “Affordable Care Act fan club,” Obama said, “I agree with Mitt Romney [...]
