Democratic-led states ask Supreme Court to quickly review Affordable Care Act's legality

[Elderberry]

Houston Chronicle by Amy Goldstein and Robert Barnes 1/3/2020

Democratic-led states ask Supreme Court to quickly review Affordable Care Act's legality

A coalition of Democratic-led states on Friday asked the Supreme Court to consider the legality of the Affordable Care Act during its current term, which would mark the justices' third review in the near-decade history of the health-care law.

The request comes two weeks after a federal appeals court struck down part of the law and sent back to a lower court the question of whether the rest of the sprawling statute can stand without it.

The ruling, by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, had little immediate effect on the nation's consumers because the section the judges invalidated - the requirement that most Americans carry health insurance - was all but removed two years ago by a Republican-led Congress.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Democratic-led-states-ask-Supreme-Court-to-14947965.php

[Elderberry]

House, blue states ask justices to uphold Affordable Care Act

SCOTUSblog by Amy Howe 1/3/2020

https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/01/house-blue-states-ask-justices-to-uphold-affordable-care-act/

It has been almost eight years since a divided Supreme Court, with Chief Justice John Roberts providing the deciding vote during the middle of a presidential election, rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate – the requirement that virtually all Americans obtain health insurance or pay a penalty. Today the House of Representatives and a group of states with Democratic attorneys general asked the Supreme Court to reaffirm that the mandate is constitutional, once again during a presidential campaign, but this time on a fast track and before review in the lower courts is completed.

In 2012, a majority on the Supreme Court rejected the federal government’s argument that Congress had the power to enact the mandate as part of its authority to regulate commerce. But in a surprise twist, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s four more liberal justices in upholding the mandate on another ground: The penalty imposed on individuals who did not buy health insurance was a tax, which the Constitution permits Congress to impose.

Five years later, as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Congress amended the ACA to set the penalty for failure to buy health insurance at zero, while leaving the rest of the act in place. That prompted two individuals and a group of states to go to federal court in Texas, where they argued that because the penalty is now zero, it can no longer be considered a tax, and the mandate is therefore unconstitutional. Moreover, they contended, without the individual mandate, the rest of the ACA is also invalid.

More at link.