U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Obama Health Care Law
The Obama Administration won the first appellate review of the 2010 health care law as a three judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held it is constitutional for Congress to require Americans buy health insurance. This ruling came as the first of three to be delivered by separate courts of appeal. The 4th Circuit in Richmond, VA and the 11th Circuit in Atlanta are expected to hand down their opinions very soon.
Appellate lawyers on both sides of the case expect the Supreme Court to take one of the cases. Judge Jeffrey Sutton, who is typically considered a conservative, is an appointee of President George W. Bush and was joined by a Democrat, Judge Boyce Martin Jr., who was appointed by President Carter, to write the majority opinion. Sutton wrote, "In my opinion, the government has the better of the arguments". He added, "Not every intrusive law is an unconstitutionally intrusive law." This is the first time a Republican federal court appointee has affirmed the merits of the law. Judge James Graham opposed the majority opinion. He was appointed by President Reagan and was on temporary assignment to the 6th Circuit.
The 6th Circuit majority sided with appellate attorney Neal Katyal, who is the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the U.S., and decided that the mandate was "constitutional under the Commerce Clause" because "the provision regulates economic activity that congress had a rational basis to believe has substantial effects on interstate commerce," Martin wrote. "In addition, Congress had a rational basis to believe that the provision was essential to its larger economic scheme reforming the interstate markets in health care and health insurance." Graham opposed their reasoning and stated that if the mandate were allowed, "it is difficult to see what the limits on Congress Commerce Clause authority would be."
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