Strike Down ObamaCare, Says Justice Department Twenty states sue again, claiming the mandate is unconstitutional. Now the federal government agrees. By Sai Prakash and Neal Devins
https://www.wsj.com/articles/strike-down-obamacare-says-justice-department-1528931393
Twenty states have filed a lawsuit against the federal government arguing that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional—and this time the federal government agrees. When the Justice Department filed a brief last week taking the states’ side, critics furiously insisted that the failure to defend ObamaCare is a threat to the rule of law. Don’t be moved by selective outrage. This refusal to defend is actually more restrained than President Obama’s. And, as before, the courts will decide the ultimate questions.
The new lawsuit, filed in February, arises from a change in the law. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repealed the penalty for failing to purchase health insurance, while leaving in place language to the effect that doing so is mandatory. In 2012 Chief Justice John Roberts held that the individual mandate could pass constitutional muster only by being construed as a tax. Now that the tax is gone, the plaintiff states argue, the mandate must be considered an attempt to regulate commerce. As such, it’s unconstitutional under the views of a five-justice majority in the 2012 case.
The states further argue that other ACA provisions are inextricably linked with the mandate—a view with which four dissenters agreed in 2012 (and on which Chief Justice Roberts has not expressed an opinion).The Justice Department’s filing turns not on some independent executive judgment about the ACA but on a straightforward interpretation of the Supreme Court’s 2012 precedent. When Attorney General Jeff Sessions informed Congress of the decision not to defend the ACA, he emphasized that the department’s decision will not prevent the courts from ultimately having the last word on the constitutional question. CONTINUE AT SITE
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