Today federal judge Rosemary Collyer issued a decision in House of Representatives v. Burwell, the case brought by the House to challenge the legality of the Obama administration’s payments of Obamacare subsidies to insurers, despite the fact that Congress refused to appropriate money for such subsidies. Judge Collyer ruled the administration’s payments unconstitutional. I find her reasoning highly persuasive. Here is the decision in full:
HofR Challenge to ACA DCt 5-12-16 by John Hinderaker
This is one of many instances where the administration has simply ignored federal law or the Constitution and proceeded illegally. After the decision came out, Josh Earnest expressed confidence that it will be reversed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Given how the Democrats have stacked that circuit, and given the propensity of Democratic judges to vote as a bloc in cases they see as political, that prediction might come true–if not on the merits, then perhaps on standing, although if the House doesn’t have standing to challenge the administration’s spending money that it didn’t appropriate, I don’t know who would.
The case is destined, in any event, for the Supreme Court. By the time it gets there, presumably we will have a ninth justice. Which reminds us, once more, how important this year’s election is.
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