Supreme Court Petitioned on Health Care Reform
The Justice Department announced on September 28 that it is petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn a recent ruling in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that held part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) law unconstitutional – the individual mandate portion.
A separate petition was filed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and officials from 25 other states on September 28. The petition from the States explain that ACA is unconstitutional because it imposes coercive new spending mandates on the States and unlawfully interferes with individual Americans’ constitutionally protected freedoms by forcing them to purchase health insurance. Citing substantial implementation costs already burdening the States, the petition urges the Supreme Court to resolve the significant constitutional questions posed by the ACA as expeditiously as possible.
If one of these petitions is chosen, it could mean a landmark decision by June, in the middle of a presidential election year. However, there is the question of which, if any, of the petitions will the Supreme Court choose. “How they will choose is not a matter of public knowledge, but it is likely that the court would prefer a case that would present the constitutional issues clearly and directly, in petitions that would be argued by lawyers seasoned in Supreme Court practice,” wrote Lyle Denniston, a veteran Supreme Court reporter who now reports for SCOTUSblog.
More petition discussions on Supreme Court Of The U.S. (SCOTUS) blog: http://www.scotusblog.com/2011/09/broad-challenge-to-health-law/