Related: Eric Schneiderman Vows to Sue Trump Over ACA
Becerra and Healey said the attorneys general will pursue claims that the subsidy payments are mandated by the Affordable Care Act and that the president violated the Administrative Procedures Act by unilaterally moving to stop them.
Democratic state attorneys general have used the APA, with some success, to challenge Trump’s efforts to roll back Obama-administration regulations on energy efficiency standards, methane leaks on public lands and greenhouse-gas emissions standards.
Becerra, Schneiderman and other Democratic state attorneys general successfully intervened in the D.C. Circuit health care subsidies litigation this summer.
U.S. House Republicans sued in 2014 to stop the insurance subsidies. In 2016, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer in Washington ruled for Republicans but stayed her order enjoining future cost-sharing payments until the Obama administration could appeal.
Becerra said it’s not clear yet what will happen to that case in light of Trump’s decision to end the cost-sharing subsidies. “We’re all staying tuned to find out where the federal Department of Justice is going on that,” he said.
