The DC Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion this morning upholding the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act in Seven-Sky v. Holder. With a little luck - and a Supreme Court grant of certiorari - this will be the last time that we write about a circuit court ruling on the individual mandate.

The latest addition to the appellate opinion bank means that 6 of 13 appellate circuits have produced some kind of opinion on the Affordable Care Act, whether on the constitutionality of the individual mandate or standing to challenge the law.

  • Non-partisan. Two judges voted in favor of the
  • mandate: Judge Laurence Silberman, a Reagan nominee, and Senior Judge Harry
  • Edwards, a Carter nominee. Judge Brett Kavanaugh, appointed by George W. Bush,
  • dissented.Self-awareness. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals knows that
  • this case is going to be decided in the Supreme Court. Judge Silberman started the majority opinion with a nod to the inevitable High
  • Court ruling, noting “Since so much has already been written by our sister
  • circuits about the issues presented by this case-which will almost surely be
  • decided by the Supreme Court-we shall be sparing in adding to the production of
  • paper.” Sparing paper, in the DC Circuit, means limiting the opinion and dissent
  • to 103 pages.Invasiveness, but not unconstitutional. The DC
  • Circuit wrote that the individual mandate “certainly is an encroachment on
  • individual liberty, but it is no more so than a command that restaurants or
  • hotels are obliged to serve all customers regardless of race, that gravely ill
  • individuals cannot use a substance their doctors described as the only effective
  • palliative for excruciating pain, or that a farmer cannot grow enough wheat to
  • support his own family.”

If the Supreme Court picked its cases based on the best party names, Seven-Sky v. Holder would be a contender for a writ of certiorari. Since the Court is more concerned with the case and controversy at hand, the highly-respected DC Circuit’s opinions are unlikely to see official review, but they will probably influence the Supreme Court’s decision in the individual mandate challenge, reports Politico.

Related Resources:

  • Seven-Sky
  • v. Holder (DC Circuit Court of Appeals)Administration
  • Invites Supreme Court Review of Individual Mandate (FindLaw’s Supreme Court
  • blog)DC
  • Cir. Decision Blows First Offshore Wind Farm Out of the Water (FindLaw’s DC
  • Circuit blog)Plaintiffs
  • Lack Standing in Ringling Bros. Animal Cruelty Case (FindLaw’s DC Circuit
  • blog)

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