Academia, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

HOUSE FILES CHALLENGE OVER THE CHANGES TO THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

800px-Capitol_Building_Full_ViewToday, we filed our complaint United States House of Representatives v. Burwell (Case 1:14-cv-01967), in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The House’s complaint contains eight counts concerning constitutional and statutory violations of law related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). There are a myriad of unilateral amendments to this Act, ordered by President Obama’s Administration, which could be the subject of a challenge, and there are a number of changes that are already being litigated, including King v. Burwell, which has been accepted by the Supreme Court for review. The House’s complaint, however, focuses on the Administration’s usurpation not only of the House’s Article I legislative authority, but also of the defining “power of purse.” Both of these powers were placed exclusively in Article I by the Framers of our Constitution. These constitutional and statutory claims are highly illustrative of the current conflict between the branches over the basic principles of the separation of powers. The House’s complaint seeks to reaffirm the clear constitutional lines of separation between the branches – a doctrine that is the very foundation of our constitutional system of government. To put it simply, the complaint focuses on the means rather than ends. The complaint is posted below.

This is not a new question. Indeed, in some respects, it is the original question. The Framers were well aware that governmental actors would seek to aggrandize power within the system the Framers had created. In Federalist 51, James Madison warned that “[i]n framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” Accordingly, the Framers put into place what Madison called “the necessity of auxiliary precautions” to maintain the balance of powers within the system. Such precautions are of little value absent judicial review to maintain the lines of separation; to arrest what Madison called the “encroaching nature” of power.

Once again, as lead counsel, I have to remain circumspect in any public statements on the filing in deference to the Court and the legal process.

Jonathan Turley
Lead Counsel

Here is the Complaint: House v. Burwell (D.D.C.) – Complaint (FILED)

220px-Meade_and_Prettyman_Courthouse

419 thoughts on “HOUSE FILES CHALLENGE OVER THE CHANGES TO THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT”

  2. The time draws ever more near when the courts shall and must at last address the relevancy of Congress and the role the Constitution requires it to play as the body of, by, and for people living in what is to be a representative democracy. Will it finally be this time? Will the Judicial Branch continue to shirk its duty to redress the usurpation of powers of and between the other two branches? Will it again slide on the matter and say it is up to politics and the political process to decide the fate of liberty that is so dependent upon the principle of separation of powers?

  4. @NickS

    What gets me about Bill Maher, is that if people were like him, and lived their lives the way he lives his, then you wouldn’t have a country. IIRC, he hasn’t ever married, or produced a child, and spends his free time smoking dope. Maybe that works for him, but only because most other people don’t live that way. Sooo,l what exactly makes him so cool??? IMO, he is the epitome of a spoiled rotten baby boomer.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

  5. Trooper, That’s Durocher, not Koufax, you bozo! I think Drysdale was in that classic episode?

  6. Why leftists support Obamacare even though it will degrade health care for all:

    “Leftists are identical. They cannot map out the long-term consequences of their actions. The amygdala hardware is just not there. So they seek the pleasure of the moment, avoid any hardships – even those which might yield benefit later if endured now. Eventually they collapse the very governing structures they need to hide behind, to shield themselves from reality.“

  9. I have no “cover” Spinelli. I have nothing to hide. You need to get a grip before you get deleted again today.

  12. Observer, Cultists have a lot of smug in them, and no one is more smug than the midget, Bill Maher.

  13. Darren:

    You are just a big fat party pooper.

    Oops, sorry, that was just my inner (immature) child shouting out.

  15. Would it be possible to cease these juvenile attacks between others? There are matters of great importance discussed in the article and the various informed commentaries. This strife is directly akin to walking into the U.S. District Court where the lawsuit was filed and creating a scene by arguing and pointing fingers to show who can out-insult who. It is not much to request that this type of behavior be stopped or taken to another website.

  18. Nick, it is very disappointing that we have cult leaders/followers even in the first world. I saw a clip of Real Time and I literally felt sorry for Bill Maher to see how stoned and deep he is in this “cult”. Everyone else, who does not support the president/his party ,in his view, is just “stupid” or racist.

Comments are closed.