Obama administration fights to save healthcare law
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Obama administration fights to save healthcare law
By: Jeremy Pelofsky and Lisa Lambert, Reuters
RICHMOND, Virginia -- Lawyers for President Barack Obama go to
court on Tuesday to try to save the cornerstone of his healthcare
overhaul, arguing that the requirement for Americans to buy
insurance is constitutional.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit will consider whether a lower court was correct in striking
down the requirement. But they will not be the final arbiter in a
fight that is expected to reach the Supreme Court.
Legal scholars see the case as pivotal because it is the first
to have oral arguments before an appeals courts. That means its
ruling could affect other courts and become the first challenge to
the law to reach the high court.
The healthcare law, which requires Americans to buy insurance by
2014 or pay a penalty, was a major victory for Obama, one that
Republicans are working to undo in the courts, statehouses and
Congress.
Obama's Republican opponents are expected to make the issue a
theme during his 2012 re-election bid by arguing it is a costly and
unnecessary government expansion.
The panel of judges -- selected at random by a computer --
turned out to have all been appointed by Democratic presidents,
including two by Obama: James Wynn and Andre Davis. The third,
Diana Motz, was appointed by President Bill Clinton.
Last year a Republican appointee, U.S. District Judge Henry
Hudson in Virginia, ruled that Congress exceeded its authority by
forcing Americans to buy health insurance, a key piece of the law
aimed at keeping premiums low through ensuring everyone buys
coverage.
Virginia had passed a law barring the federal government from
making its citizens buy health insurance.
The state filed a legal challenge arguing that the federal
government cannot penalize citizens for not buying goods or
services under the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause.
"It will also be important because any future decision from
other courts will feel compelled to respond to the Fourth Circuit's
reasoning," said Kevin Russell, a former Justice Department
appellate lawyer.
"If it is a well-reasoned opinion, it will likely be influential
in other courts as well," said Russell, now in private practice.
The 4th Circuit is split evenly among judges appointed by
Democratic and Republican presidents.
Justices in another U.S. appeals court in Atlanta will likely
take note of the arguments when they hear an appeal on June 8 by
the Obama administration in a similar lawsuit filed by more than
half the U.S. states.
MANY CHALLENGES STILL AHEAD
Republicans in the House of Representatives have tried to repeal
Obama's healthcare overhaul, but the president's fellow Democrats
control the Senate and have stymied the effort.
So the focus has been turning to the courts, where numerous
challenges are pending.
Two federal judges have struck it down, including one who found
the entire law unconstitutional in a challenge by 26 states, but
several other judges have ruled that it passed muster and upheld
it.
In Atlanta, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the
Obama administration's arguments calling for the reversal of a
decision in a multi-state lawsuit that declared the entire
healthcare law unconstitutional. The court has yet to decide if a
three-judge panel or all judges will hear it.
In the Virginia case, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
appealed Hudson's refusal to toss out the entire law, arguing that
Congress would not have passed the healthcare reform legislation
without the individual mandate and penalty.
While the appeals courts could side with the government argument
that those challenging it are being premature because the
individual mandate does not take effect until 2014, one legal
scholar said they will likely discount that point.
"I think it is a weaker argument for the government, and I think
the courts of appeals feel some pressure to sort of move forward on
this," said Daniel Ortiz, a law professor at the University of
Virginia. "There is some feeling that if you wait until things are
really clear, then it would be so disruptive to unwind the thing
and change states' expectations."
The three appeals court judges in Virginia will also consider on
Tuesday an appeal by Liberty University, founded by conservative
evangelical Jerry Falwell, which argued another federal judge in
Virginia was wrong to uphold the individual mandate as
constitutional under the Commerce Clause.