Obamacare Archives - Page 2 of 19

ABA Calls Obama’s Comments on Judicial Activism ‘Troubling’

ABA Journal: “ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III is taking issue with President Obama’s initial remarks about the U.S. Supreme Court and the health care law.

Last Monday, Obama said a decision to overturn the law would be an “unprecedented, extraordinary” step of judicial activism. On Tuesday, Obama clarified his statement, saying that the Supreme Court does have final authority. Obama’s remarks led one federal judge to demand a three-page single-spaced memo from the Department of Justice explaining the administration’s views on the authority of the courts.”

Federal Appeals Court Demands DOJ Explain Obama’s “Judicial Activism” Comment

ABA Journal: In response to a “judicial activism” comment by President Barack Obama, since clarified, about the health care law currently being reviewed for constitutionality by the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal appeals court judge overseeing a different health-care case has called for the Department of Justice immediately to provide a three-page single-spaced memo.

It should detail both the DOJ’s position and the views of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder “in regard to the recent statements by the president, stating specifically and in detail in reference to those statements what the authority is of the federal courts in this regard in terms of judicial review,” said Judge Jerry Smith of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals during a Tuesday hearing, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports.

Continue reading federal appeals court demands DOJ explain Obama’s “judicial activism” comment.

Obamacare Arguments: Day 2

ABA Journal: The U.S. Supreme Court will hold two hours of arguments today on the constitutional questions in the health care case.

The issue is whether Congress had the authority to require most Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, according to the New York Times, ABAJournal.com and the Washington Post.

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. says Congress was authorized to act under the commerce clause, which allows regulation of economic activities that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. Uninsured Americans are unable to pay for $43 billion in health care each year, essentially transferring the costs to other Americans, he argues.

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SCOTUS Appears Ready to Decide Health Care Case Now Not Later

ABA Journal: U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared likely to move on to the constitutional issues in the challenge to the Obama administration’s health care law as they considered arguments this morning that the case was brought too soon.

An appointed lawyer, Robert Long of Covington & Burling, had argued that the case could not be heard until 2015, when taxpayers who fail to buy health insurance will be required to pay a penalty. He argued the penalty was a tax under an 1867 law that bars courts from considering tax challenges before the tax is collected.

Continue reading SCOTUS appears ready to decide health care law now not later.

Obamacare Arguments: Day 1

ABA Journal: The U.S. Supreme Court begins three days of arguments today on the Obama administration’s health care law by considering whether the case was brought too soon.

The law requires Americans to have health insurance by 2014 or to pay a penalty on April 2015 tax returns. The question for the justices today is whether the penalty is a tax and, if so, whether an 1867 federal law called the Anti-Injunction Act bars courts from hearing a challenge until the tax is paid. The New York Times, the Washington Post and ABAJournal.com report on the issue.

Former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who represents states challenging the law, said in remarks earlier this month that he feels sorry for people who camp out to see today’s arguments, Bloomberg News reported at the time. “I think of that as a kind of practical joke that the court is playing on the public,” Clement said. “Some people are going to stand out all [Sunday] night trying to get a seat for the health care argument, and they’re going to hear all this discussion about this Anti-Injunction Act—about the most boring jurisdictional stuff one can imagine.”

Continue reading Obamacare arguments: day one.

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