Scene outside the U.S. Supreme Court on the day the court issued its ruling in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act case, June 28, 2012. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)
The U.S. House of Representatives and a Democratic group of state attorneys general on Friday placed the issue of the Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court yet again, asking the justices to review an appellate court decision that struck down the health care law's individual mandate as unconstitutional.
Alongside their petitions for writ of certiorari filed with the court, both the state officials and the House separately asked the justices to take up the matter on an expedited basis and schedule oral arguments for this spring.
If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to follow that schedule, that means an opinion could come down just months ahead of the 2020 presidential election, placing health care at the heart of the political debate.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled last month that the individual mandate in Obamacare was unconstitutional but remanded the matter back down to the district court to determine whether it could be severed from the rest of the law.
"The actions of the lower courts have cast doubt on hundreds of other statutory provisions that together regulate a substantial portion of the nation's economy," the state petition reads. "States, health insurers, and millions of Americans rely on those provisions when making important—indeed, life-changing—decisions."
And the House's petition, signed on by former Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who previously defended the Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court, said the Fifth Circuit ruling "has created an intolerable situation."
"The debilitating effects of this massive uncertainty will persist for years if the Court does not grant review now," the House document reads. "It is thus imperative that this Court grant certiorari promptly to resolve the vitally important questions presented in this petition."
House general counsel Douglas Letter is listed as the counsel of record for the House's case. New York and California are among a coalition of Democratic states that filed a separate cert petition.
This is not the first time the Supreme Court has taken up the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. The court in 2012, in a 5-4 opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, found that the mandate could exist in the form of a tax.
But after Republicans repealed the tax penalty, a group of GOP-led states sued, claiming the individual mandate couldn't exist without it. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor agreed, and ruled that the entire health care law was therefore unconstitutional, a decision widely panned by scholars.
The Fifth Circuit's ruling asked O'Connor to take another look at whether the mandate could be separated from the rest of the law. Whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear the case before the lower court review is completed is an open question.
If enough justices sign on to take the case, the remainder of this term's docket will be packed with high-profile cases, including fights over subpoenas for President Donald Trump's personal tax records.
Add in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial, which Roberts will preside over, and the Supreme Court is all but certain to be at the height of public attention as voters prepare to make their final decisions in the 2020 election.
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Jacqueline Thomsen
Jacqueline Thomsen, based in Washington, is a reporter covering D.C. federal courts and the legal side of politics. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @jacq_thomsen.
