Washington, DC – The U.S. Supreme Court today decided to take up the case of King v. Burwell, part of the latest legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act.  In the King case, as well as a similar case now pending before the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit – Halbig v. Burwell – Constitutional Accountability Center represents Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and other key leaders in Congress as well as state legislatures when the ACA was drafted, passed, and implemented. CAC issued the following reaction to this morning’s news: 

CAC President Doug Kendall said, “We are disappointed that at least four Justices decided to hear this case despite the lack of a circuit split and while this issue is still being actively litigated in the lower courts, but we remain very confident that the Court will ultimately find that both the text of the ACA and the intentions of Congress mandate a ruling for the federal government.”

CAC Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra continued, “The fact remains that this is a straightforward case about how we interpret statutes in this country.  No elected official in Congress or in the state legislatures at the time the ACA was passed held the view that the challengers are pushing today, and the members of Congress who shaped and drafted the law have gone on record in briefing in this case to set the record straight.  The challengers’ view isn’t in the text of the ACA and it runs directly contrary to the purpose of the law, making sure every American has access to affordable health insurance.  This challenge to the ACA gravely misconstrues the law, while threatening to leave millions of Americans without access to health care.”

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Resources:

*  “Friend of the court” briefs on behalf of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, former Senator Max Baucus, and other Members of Congress and state legislatures at the time the Affordable Care Act was drafted and passed:

—  King v. Burwell: http://theusconstitution.org/sites/default/files/briefs/King_v_Sebelius_CAC_Amicus_Final.pdf 

—  Halbig v. Burwell: http://theusconstitution.org/sites/default/files/briefs/Halbig-Amicus-Legislator-CAC.pdf 

*  “Affordable Care Act opponents are cherry-picking their history,” Tom Harkin, Ron Wyden, Sander M. Levin, George Miller and Henry A. Waxman (all CAC clients except for Sen. Wyden), Washington Post, October 30, 2014: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/affordable-care-act-opponents-are-cherry-picking-their-history/2014/10/30/2199a04e-5fac-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html 

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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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