Even though the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has already passed muster by the U.S. Supreme Court on two previous occasions, foes of Obamacare will once again be trying to challenge the law before the high court.
On Monday, a new appeal will be filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation. They contend that the law violates the provision of the Constitution that requires tax-raising bills to originate in the House of Representatives.
Pacific Legal Foundation lawyer Timothy Sandefur remarked:
“Obamacare is so unconstitutional in so many ways.”
And foes of it are so full of bullcrap that their eyes are dark brown, but I digress.
The new appeal has been filed on the behalf of small-business owner Matt Sissel, and it focuses on the Constitution’s Origination Clause, which requires that the House be the first to pass a bill “for raising revenue.”
Pacific Legal claims that the ACA will generate roughly $500 billion in a dozen separate new taxes by 2019, which they say clearly makes it a bill to raise revenue. They also contend that the legislation made its debut in the Senate when then-Majority Leader Harry Reid repurposed an unrelated bill that already had passed the House and inserted language that became the Affordable Care Act.
Lower courts have already rejected Pacific Legal’s argument. A unanimous three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington said that the health care law does indeed contain tax-raising provisions but its primary purpose was not to raise revenue, but to expand health care coverage.
Legal experts seriously doubt that the Supreme Court will choose to intervene in the case. Nicholas Bagley, a health law expert at the University of the Michigan Law School commented:
“There’s disagreement on the appeals court about the rationale, but until there’s disagreement about the right outcome, the Supreme Court has no reason to take the case.”
Personally, here is what I hope happens in 2016, after the election: The Democratic President and the newly-minted Democratic Congress pass single-payer healthcare just like they have in Canada. Then, in horror, Republican heads explode, leaving them unable to file any further appeals.
Hey, a man can dream, can’t he?
