CAC Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra: “Superstar conservative federal judges have blazed a path for their ideological counterparts on the High Court to follow the text and history of the Constitution in upholding the Affordable Care Act, while dismissing the wrongheaded tea party passions that stirred this case to life in the first place.”

WASHINGTON – On news this morning that the U.S. Supreme Court granted petitions for review filed by all parties involved in a challenge to the Affordable Care Act filed in Florida, Constitutional Accountability Center released the following statement:

“Superstar conservative federal judges such as Laurence Silberman and Jeffrey Sutton have blazed a path for their ideological counterparts on the High Court to follow the text and history of the Constitution in upholding the Affordable Care Act, while dismissing the wrongheaded tea party passions that stirred this case to life in the first place,” said CAC Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra. “Lower courts have rightly recognized that the text of Article I grants Congress power to regulate interstate commerce, and to tax and spend to promote the general welfare. While Congress’s authority has limits, the powers expressly granted to Congress are nonetheless broad and substantial and provide the national government the authority to solve national problems, such as health care.”

“Observers should note the very real possibility that the tea party’s basic constitutional vision could be rejected by the Supreme Court – particularly its most conservative members – which could deal a devastating blow to tea partiers’ ability to have their constitutional theories taken seriously by the American public in the future,” Wydra continued.

CAC President Doug Kendall added, “With a clear circuit split, a Court of Appeals striking down a monumental federal law, and the federal government requesting review, it would have been irresponsible for the Supreme Court not to hear this case. The question is what the Court will do with it, and on that question, we hope and expect the Supreme Court will adopt the reasoning of preeminent conservatives like Judges Silberman and Sutton and uphold the law.”

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Resources:

CAC brief amici curiae in U.S. Department of Health & Human Services v. Florida, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on behalf of 154 state legislators from 26 states, defending the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on originalist grounds

CAC Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra, “Can health ruling sink tea party?” POLITICO, November 10, 2011

CAC President Doug Kendall: “Health Care Reform: Preserving Judicial Independence in a Partisan Age,” June 3, 2011

CAC Issue Brief: “Setting the Record Straight: The Tea Party and the Constitutional Powers of the Federal Government”

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history.

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