DOJ Joins Challengers in Calling for Supreme Court Review

09/28/11

By Hadley Heath

Ooohh it's on now.

What a busy day in the world of the health care lawsuits - particularly the Florida case.

First the NFIB filed a cert petition.

Then the state plaintiffs filed a cert petition.

And now the federal government has filed a cert petition!

Read the federal government's petition (PDF).

Read the appendix to the federal government's petition (PDF).

It seems like the Supreme Court will now be able to pick up this case without delay. 

I really enjoyed Randy Barnett's thoughts on the Volokh Conspiracy blog.  Essentially the DOJ statement about their filing today compared the Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare") to the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act - because all of these laws faced legal challenges as well, but overcame them (and DOJ hopes ObamaCare will win out too).  Barnett answers:

Each of those laws enjoyed bipartisan support when enacted; none were passed on a straight-line party vote. In fact, enacting so massive a social-welfare measure that affects every man, woman, and child in the United States in so partisan a manner was ... wait for it ... unprecedented.

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