As predicted in these pages barely one year ago (see A.M. Sabino & J.N. Sabino, “Anticipating Another Supreme Court Test for the Affordable Care Act,” 261 New York Law Journal p. 4, cl. 4 (Jan. 24, 2019) (“Anticipating Another Test”)), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is once again to be tested before the United States Supreme Court. This was inevitable, once the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court decision declaring the health care law unconstitutional. The tribunal’s affirmance was grounded upon the fact that in 2017 Congress stripped the health care law of its taxing proviso, the so-called “individual mandate,” the solitary ground for the ACA’s constitutionality, as affirmed by the high court nearly a decade ago in National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. 519 (2012) (NFIB).
This latest chapter in the health care law’s contentious journey is captioned Texas v. United States, ___ F.3d ___ (No. 19-10011) (5th Cir. Dec. 18, 2019). A petition for certiorari is already pending before the Supreme Court, U.S. House of Representatives v. Texas, No. 19-841, and, as of press time, it appears the Justices have the matter scheduled for conference before the end of this month, at which time we will learn whether there shall be review by the high court or if the matter shall be remanded back to the Texas district judge for further proceedings.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]