Obama Administration Offers Supreme Court Robust Defense Of Health Law
Chief Justice John Roberts will be pivotal to deciding the fate of the law, The Washington Post reports. The administration says health law detractors have offered a challenge that "strains credulity."
The Washington Post's Plumline:
For Chief Justice John Roberts, Anti-Obamacare Lawsuit Poses Major Dilemma
The government has now filed its brief responding to the challengers in the King v. Burwell lawsuit, which claims the Affordable Care Act doesn’t make subsidies available to people in states on the federal exchange. If the Supreme Court upholds the challenge, it could yank subsidies from millions and unleash untold disruptions that could cripple the law in many parts of the country. (Sargent, 1/22)
CQ Healthbeat:
Health Law Challenge 'Strains Credulity,' Administration Says
President Barack Obama’s administration submitted a full-throated defense of the health care overhaul law to the Supreme Court on Thursday, arguing that challengers have a theory that at times is baseless, implausible, “strains credulity” and “does not respect the rule of law.” The brief, filed by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. and other administration lawyers, argues that the challenge “rests on an acontextual misreading of a single phrase in two subclauses” of the president’s signature law, and “an implausible account of the act’s design and history.” (Ruger, 1/22)