After a quiet fall, one of the lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of PPACA has new life. In a brief order, the U.S. Supreme Court has sent the Liberty University v. Geitner case to be heard again by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals out of Richmond, Virginia. As the AP mentioned in its piece run by the Washington … Continue Reading
The decision we’ve all been waiting for is in — the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the statute commonly known as the individual insurance mandate (everyone must have minimum health insurance coverage or pay a penalty) is constitutional under Congress’ taxing power. Because the individual mandate was upheld, the rest of the Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) has also survived. The … Continue Reading
The U.S. Supreme Court has completed announcing its decisions for today, and still no decision on PPACA (Department of Health and Human Servs. v. Florida (No.11-398) and National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (No. 11-393)). The Court is sitting again on Thursday and will likely announce decisions in the remaining cases from this term … Continue Reading
As we get closer to receiving a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of PPACA and its individual insurance mandate, three major insurers have committed to continue some benefits that were required by PPACA. These announcements address some of the uncertainty being experienced by insureds who don’t know what will happen or how quickly changes … Continue Reading
A long day today at the U.S. Supreme Court for PPACA attorneys. This morning, argument was all about whether any unconstitutional parts of PPACA can be severed from the entire Act or if the whole Act must be stricken. As before, oral arguments are available in audio and transcript on the Court’s website. The afternoon … Continue Reading
Definitely more drama today, as the Supreme Court heard 2 hours of arguments on the constitutionality of PPACA. The general opinion following arguments is that the Justices’ questions indicate they may not view the government’s position favorably. The audio and transcript from today have been posted by the Court, and analysis from Court watchers abounds, including … Continue Reading
Today’s arguments at the Supreme Court were 90 minutes on the issue of whether the Court has jurisdiction to decide the constitutional questions now, or if the challengers must wait until the individual mandate and its associated penalties begin in 2014. The audio and transcript of today’s arguments are now available from the Court. Not a … Continue Reading
Next week, the drama begins — the Supreme Court will hold what promises to be the biggest (an impressive 6 hours) and most important series of oral arguments of the decade, if not the century — to decide the future of Obama’s health care reform, PPACA. The government will be primarily represented by Solicitor General Don Verilli; arguing most … Continue Reading
As described in further detail in SSD’s Sixth Circuit Appellate Blog here and on the ACA Litigation Blog here, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a decision yesterday in Seven-Sky v. Holder that the individual insurance mandate is constitutional. This brings the total to 2 appellate courts for the law (the D.C. … Continue Reading
The recent decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in the Liberty University case may change the path the PPACA cases take in the United States Supreme Court and could even mean that a definitive decision on the individual insurance mandate wouldn’t come until 2016 or later. Until now, most commentators have assumed that we … Continue Reading
Well, this was a big week for the PPACA lawsuits, with multiple filings in the Supreme Court. These quick moves seem designed to get the case heard this term, which means a decision would come out by June 2012 and be fodder for the November 2012 presidential elections. It remains to be seen whether that decision upholds PPACA, … Continue Reading
Following Friday’s oral arguments about the constitutionality of PPACA’s individual insurance mandate in the Seven-Sky v. Holder case and in anticipation of the government’s filing tomorrow in the U.S. Supreme Court, we thought it might be helpful to recap where the courts are on the issue. So far, the score in the courts of appeals is … Continue Reading
Today, the Eleventh Circuit issued a whopping 300-page opinion holding PPACA’s individual insurance mandate unconstitutional, in Florida v. HHS, siding with the numerous States that filed or have since joined the case. This is directly contrary to the Sixth Circuit’s June 26 decision in the Thomas Moore case, holding that the statute was constitutional. Notably, both courts delivered divided 2-1 opinions. … Continue Reading
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court rejected the request by Virginia that the Court accept immediate review of whether PPACA is constitutional, without waiting for the case to go through the usual intermediate appeals process. Virginia had argued that the case will eventually be resolved by the US Supreme Court in any event, so the Court … Continue Reading
