Health Care Law Supporters Encounter Resistance From Federal Judge

A federal judge Thursday took seriously a politically ballyhooed lawsuit filed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives challenging the Obama administration’s implementation of the health care law.

In an 80-minute hearing, U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer resisted Justice Department claims that the House lacks the legal standing necessary to sue. While noting she has “no idea” what she ultimately will decide, Collyer leveled her hardest questions at the administration.

“It is, I think, a very serious disagreement,” Collyer said, adding that “whether the House has standing is a very different question than whether the [administration’s] action is lawful.”

Appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush, Collyer repeatedly, and perhaps tellingly, hammered Justice Department attorney Joel McElvain with sharp comments like “You’re not getting my point,” “You are dodging my question” and “This is the problem with your brief. It’s just not direct.”

The attorney hired to represent the House, George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley, seemed to have an easier time during the oral argument held before an audience of 75 people. Many reporters, but apparently no House members, were in the fourth-floor courtroom.

“Of all the constitutional injuries that we can [imagine], this is the big ticket,” Turley said.

The oral argument held Thursday was the first for the House lawsuit that was filed last November, following many months of GOP threats and pledges. Potentially, it could break new ground on broader questions about when Congress can sue the executive branch.

McElvain insisted that such congressional suits could only take place under “unique, narrow” circumstances.

The suit argues that the Obama administration is spending money that Congress hasn’t appropriated, and that the administration unilaterally amended the employer mandate provisions written by Congress.

The employer mandate requires businesses with 100 or more employees to provide affordable health insurance for full-time workers or face a penalty of $2,000 per employee. The health care law originally called for the penalties to begin in 2014, but the White House delayed their enforcement after complaints from business groups

This article appeared in print on page 3 of the May 29th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.