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In the case of King v. Burwell, decided by the Supreme Court in June of 2015, President Obama won the day by convincing six justices that Obamacare would collapse if he lost. The case involved the so-called "individual mandate," which imposes a financial penalty on those who neglect to buy health insurance. To many observers, the wording of Affordable Care Act seemed to impose the financial penalty only in states where a state exchange had been set up, not in states where the federal exchange operated by default. At that time, only 16 states (and the District of Columbia) had...

For those who thought that the lawsuits challenging the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) were at an end, think again. On September 9, Judge Rosemary Collyer of the federal district court for the District of Columbia refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the entire U.S. House of Representatives against the Obama administration over its funding of certain aspects of Obamacare. This is a historic lawsuit and a historic decision. In the past, individual members of Congress have filed a number of (unsuccessful) lawsuits against sitting administrations. But this is one of the few occasions when such a suit has been...

King v. Burwell, the court case that will determine if Obamacare’s language about federal subsidies and their availability on exchanges “established by the state”, will be heard in oral arguments at the Supreme Court on March 4, with a decision to come down later this year. The Obama White House is apparently so confident that they’ll win the case that they’re not preparing any back-up plan in case the Supreme Court wrecks the structure of their signature legislation. As Politico’s health care newsletter wrote this morning:Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) says that at a roundtable discussion with congressional leaders he asked...

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a new challenge to the Affordable Care Act, a move that will again thrust the law into a high-profile battle before the high court.The Supreme Court's move is somewhat surprising, considering there is still no split in the lower, circuit courts. But the high court agreed to King v. Burwell, a case in which the Fourth Circuit court upheld an IRS rule that extends the distribution of health insurance subsidies to states served by the federal insurance marketplace.The challenge to the law is viewed as having the potential to cripple Obamacare in...

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a new challenge to President Barack Obama's health care law. The justices said they will decide whether the law authorizes subsidies that help millions of low- and middle-income people afford their health insurance premiums. A federal appeals court upheld Internal Revenue Service regulations that allow health-insurance tax credits under the Affordable Care Act for consumers in all 50 states. Opponents argue that most of the subsidies are illegal.

Someone you probably are not familiar with has filed a suit you probably have not heard about concerning a four-word phrase you should know about. The suit could blow to smithereens something everyone has heard altogether too much about, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (hereafter, ACA). Scott Pruitt and some kindred spirits might accelerate the ACA’s collapse by blocking another of the Obama administration’s lawless uses of the Internal Revenue Service. Pruitt was elected Oklahoma’s attorney general by promising to defend states’ prerogatives against federal encroachment, and today he and some properly litigious people elsewhere are defending a...

Supreme Court revives challenge to President Obama's healthcare lawBy Sam Baker - 11/26/12 10:50 AM ET The Supreme Court revived a legal challenge to President Obama's healthcare law on Monday, saying a lower court can consider a challenge to the law's individual mandate. The court — with the blessing of the Obama administration — revived a suit filed by Liberty University. When Liberty's case reached a federal appeals court, the court said it could not rule because of the Anti-Injunction Act, a federal law that bars lawsuits against new taxes before they have taken effect. But when the Supreme Court...

Double-exclamation point!! This, on top of the fact that we already know Elena Kagan huddled with the White House to help craft the legal defense for Obamacare just five months prior to being sworn in as a Supreme Court justice. A case for recusal doesn’t get much more clear-cut than this. Don’t hold your breath though waiting for Kagan to recuse herself when the Obamacare challenge lands in the Supreme Court; this is exactly why Obama nominated her. (CNSNews.com) – On Sunday, March 21, 2010, the day the House of Representatives passed President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care...

The Obama administration's decision late Monday not to ask for a full court review of the August decision by two appeals court judges to strike down ObamaCare is a risky but potentially high-value play by the White House in the legal battle over health care reform. An administration source says the decision was made largely for practical reasons. For starters, the White House didn't think it would prevail if the 11th circuit had agreed to reconsider the case with all of its judges weighing in. Of the ten judges who would rehear the case, five are GOP appointees, and one...

Here's the Justice Department's statement on a petition being filed asking the Supreme Court to uphold the individual mandate in the health care law: “The Department has consistently and successfully defended this law in several court of appeals, and only the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled it unconstitutional. We believe the question is appropriate for review by the Supreme Court. “Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, and all of those challenges failed. We believe the challenges to Affordable...

Obama appeals health care setback to high courtMark Sherman, Associated Press Wednesday September 28, 2011, 10:14 pm EDT **SNIP** Stevens, who retired last year, said his former colleagues would not be affected by the potential impact of their decision on Obama's re-election chances. "They'll decide it on the law. I'm totally convinced of that," he said. Obama appointed Stevens' successor, Elena Kagan. Stevens said that if he still had a vote on the court on timing, he would cast it in favor of hearing the case sooner rather than later. He would not say how he would vote on the...

It may sound counterintuitive, but here’s betting that President Obama wouldn’t be at all upset if the high court rules that his health plan is unconstitutional. By urging an expedited review by the U.S. Supreme Court, the president knows that the politics cuts his way. If the court strikes down the plan, then Obama won’t have to defend it in the fall campaign, robbing the Republicans of one of their two lines of attack, the other being the moribund economy. He could rally his base by arguing that he had pushed through a great “progressive” reform only to be foiled...

It appears that this administration and Republicans are going ahead with a request to have the Supreme Court rule on obamacare early in 2012. You have to ask yourself, "why would this administration want to pursue a ruling on his signature piece of legislation," if...if they didn't have some sort of ace up their sleeve. This administration is perceived as weak and losing steam -- Why, why would they push for this. We know why the Republicans are pushing for this, we have the votes and the legislation is un-Constitutional it will get defeated. We know this! But why is...

The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the federal healthcare overhaul sooner rather than later, with the Justice Department announcing that it will file a petition Wednesday asking the court to take the case. The department is appealing from a decision last month by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta that held that the requirement under the Affordable Care Act that all Americans purchase health insurance is unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs in a multi-state challenge to Democrats' healthcare reform law on Wednesday formally asked the Supreme Court to take up the case during its upcoming term. The petition for certiorari comes two days after the Obama administration let slip its final chance to delay the case. Two appeals courts have issued opposing rulings on the law's individual mandate, increasing the likelihood that the high court will decide to weigh in. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), one of the plaintiffs, had praised the Obama administration for not delaying a challenge to the Supreme Court. In explaining Wednesday's petition,...

Washington - The Obama administration set the stage Monday for the Supreme Court to rule early next year on the constitutionality of the president’s healthcare law by declining to press for a full appeal in a lower court. The Justice Department announced it will forgo an appeal to the full U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Such an appeal to the 10-member court could have taken months and delayed a final decision from the high court until at least 2013.

The Obama administration chose not to ask the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to re-hear a pivotal health reform case Monday, signaling that it’s going to ask the Supreme Court to decide whether President Barack Obama’s health reform law is constitutional. The move puts the Supreme Court in the difficult position of having to decide whether to take the highly politically charged case in the middle of the presidential election. The Justice Department is expected to ask the court to overturn an August decision by a panel of three judges in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that found the...