Rule of Law

Opinion By Conservative Panel Deals Devastating Blow To Challenges to The Affordable Care Act

CAC Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra: “The nation’s second most important court has dealt a devastating blow to the challengers of the Act, delivered by one of the country’s foremost conservative jurists.”

Washington – On news that the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in Seven Sky v. Holder, Constitutional Accountability Center issued the following statement:

CAC Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra said, “On the eve of the Supreme Court’s decision whether to review the constitutionality of health care reform legislation, the nation’s second most important court has dealt a devastating blow to the challengers of the Act, delivered by one of the country’s foremost conservative jurists.”

CAC President Doug Kendall said, “Starting with the text and history of the Constitution, and running through a century of Supreme Court rulings, Judge Silberman’s opinion confirms what commentators across the political spectrum said when claims against the constitutionality of the Act were first raised: this is ridiculous. With two prominent conservatives, this panel was thought to be a dream come true for conservative challengers of the act,” Kendall continued. “Today that dream became a nightmare, as the panel unanimously rejected the challenges to the Act, disagreeing only about why those challenges failed.”

#

Resources:

CAC amicus brief in Seven Sky v. Holder, defending the ACA on originalist grounds

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

CAC ‘Text & History’ Blog: “Conservative D.C. Judges Question Challenge to Health Care Mandate,” September 25, 2011

D.C. Circuit opinion in Seven Sky v. Holder, upholding the constitutionality of health care reform

##

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.