Washington, DC – After oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, Constitutional Accountability Center released the following reaction:

“By the end of today’s arguments,” CAC President Doug Kendall said, “the thinness of the challengers’ claim became apparent to anyone listening closely, and some of the Court’s conservatives seem to recognize that the challenge to the minimum coverage provision was more rhetoric than law.”

CAC Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra said, “Chief Justice Roberts repeatedly took on the claim that those without insurance are not in the health care market and, in his final question, Justice Kennedy seemed to recognize that it is Congress’s duty to find the best solution to the health care crisis, not the courts.”

Added CAC President Kendall, “Paul Clement conceded that states can impose a minimum coverage provision, but then argued the federal government cannot.  But the Constitution gives the federal government power to solve national problems.  And our clients — more than 500 state legislators from all 50 states — recognize that the states cannot solve the national health care crisis alone.”

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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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