Contents tagged with mandate
Filed in: ObamaCare | by Jay Sekulow | 6:39 PM May. 1, 2012
Constitutional Questions Plague HHS Secretary
It was an extraordinary exchange. Rep. Trey Gowdy, (R-SC) asking Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sebelius to explain the constitutional implications involved in the HHS mandate, which is under attack for violating the religious beliefs of millions of Americans. The mandate requires employers to purchase health insurance for their employees that includes coverage for contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. We filed a federal lawsuit challenging this mandate in March Continue Reading...
Filed in: ObamaCare | by Geoffrey Surtees | 11:55 AM Apr. 30, 2012
Secretary Sebelius Ignorant of the Constitution?
Last Thursday, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, appeared at a full committee hearing of the House Education and Workforce Committee. Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina asked Sebelius to explain her statement earlier this year that requiring religious employers to include abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraceptive services in their health insurance plans “strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing ac Continue Reading...
Filed in: ObamaCare | by Jay Sekulow | 9:29 AM Apr. 9, 2012
Values of Federalism at Stake in Health Care Litigation
This article, co-authored by ACLJ Senior Counsel Ed White, is crossposted at the Jurist. The case of US Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida, challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA), is one of the most important cases to reach the Supreme Court in recent memory. Underscoring its importance, the parties and amici curiae filed about 150 briefs and the Court devoted more than six hours of oral argument at the end of March to the issues. The Florida case raises four issues: (1) whe Continue Reading...
Filed in: ObamaCare | by Jordan Sekulow | 10:24 AM Mar. 30, 2012
Why the Health Care Fight is Also About Abortion
For more than two years, conservative legal organizations like the ACLJ have said that Obamacare is about much more than a choice between individual liberty and a federal takeover of the health care industry. Recent news lends further evidence to concern that the Affordable Care Act is also about expanding access to and funding for abortion. This month, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, said of the newly-released abortion funding rules for state insurance Continue Reading...
Filed in: ObamaCare | by Edward White | 8:52 AM Mar. 29, 2012
ObamaCare: What Happens Next
The Supreme Court spent more than six hours over the past three days hearing oral arguments on the four issues involved in the ObamaCare case. You can read my posts on these issues here, regarding the Anti-Injunction Act, here, regarding the individual mandate, and here, regarding severability and the expansion of Medicaid. Now that oral argument has concluded, what does the Supreme Court do next in the ObamaCare case? The nine Justices will meet in a private conference this Friday to discuss Continue Reading...
Filed in: ObamaCare | by Edward White | 8:15 AM Mar. 28, 2012
Day Three of Supreme Court ObamaCare Oral Argument: Severability and Medicaid
Today, March 28, 2012, is the final day of Supreme Court oral argument on ObamaCare. Today the Court will consider two issues: (1) whether the individual mandate (requiring Americans to buy health insurance from private companies for the rest of their lives or pay annual penalties) is severable from the rest of ObamaCare and, if not, whether the Court should invalidate the entire law; and (2) whether the Medicaid expansion is constitutional. The Court will devote one and one-half hours of oral Continue Reading...
Filed in: ObamaCare | by Matthew Clark | 5:42 PM Mar. 27, 2012
Justices Skeptical About Constitutionality of ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate
Today, the fireworks erupted in day two of oral arguments before the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of ObamaCare’s individual mandate. One of the first questions set the tone for the entire argument – skepticism over the constitutionality of the linchpin of ObamaCare. Justice Kennedy got to the heart of the debate over the individual mandate asking, “Can you create commerce in order to regulate it?” Justice Scalia chimed in asking, “if I'm in any market at Continue Reading...
