This afternoon, Judge Rosemary Collyer issued a final ruling in United States House of Representatives v. Burwell, the challenge to unilateral actions taken by the Administration under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Judge Collyer ruled in favor of the House of Representatives and found that the Administration violated the Constitution in committing billions of dollars from the United States Treasury without the approval of Congress. The historic ruling reaffirms the foundational “power of the purse” that was given to the legislative branch by the Framers.
In 2015, Judge Collyer rejected an effort by the Administration to bar consideration of the merits of the challenge, thereby setting the stage for her to rule on whether the Administration has violated Article I, section 9, clause 7 of the Constitution, which provides that “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
Today Judge Collyer ruled squarely for the House in finding the Administration’s actions to be unconstitutional and that its claims “cannot surmount the plain text [of the law].” Judge Collyer found that the refusal of Congress to appropriate the funds did not give the Administration license to unilaterally order the payment of billions to insurance companies. In comparing this case to prior unsuccessful challenges to the ACA, the Court noted:
“The problem the Secretaries have tried to solve here is . . . a failure to appropriate, not a failure in drafting. Congress’s subsequent inaction, not the text of the ACA, is what prompts the Secretaries to force the elephant into the mousehole. There are no inherent flaws in the ACA that keep Section 1402 payments from being paid, in advance or otherwise. . . . There is nothing in the ACA that prevents compliance. The funds simply must be appropriated.”
Judge Collyer’s decision is linked below.
Judge Collyer’s opinion is a resounding victory not just for Congress but for our constitutional system as a whole. We remain a system based on the principle of the separation of powers and the guarantee that no branch or person can govern alone. It is the very touchstone of the American constitutional system and today that principle was reaffirmed in this historic decision.
This victory was made possible by the extraordinary legal team from the Office of the General Counsel. I would again like to thank former General Counsel Kerry Kircher; Acting General Counsel William Pittard; Senior Assistant General Counsel Todd Tatelman; Assistant Counsels Eleni Roumel, Isaac Rosenberg, and Kimberly Hamm. It is an honor to be part of this team and this extraordinary moment in constitutional law.
Jonathan Turley
Lead Counsel for the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives v. Burwell
I am not convinced that this is anything but a pyrrhic victory, however, this Law is flawed. people are choosing to die or delay treatment in order to avoid ruinous copays. People are choosing to keep their home rather than sell it for medical costs. Or people are selling their homes in order to afford the ACA. so what did this bill do exactly? was this the only path to helping people with no insurance or people with pre-existing conditions? hell no.
So, when is Obama punished for behaving like a MONARCH.??
Or is there NO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HIM, EITHER.? Clinton, lied under oath…..how much ” time” did he get.?
“I hope Congress defunded Obamacare and goes back to the old healthcare system. So I can spend the last part of my life without worrying about money or how to pay my bills.”
I can’t imagine the willful disregard of facts, mental gymnastics, cognitive dissonance, and self-delusion that goes into a comment like that. The Heritage Foundation plan that is now called “Obamacare” has made it far *less* likely that you, or anyone, will go bankrupt due to medical bills. There is no part of the law that requires you to pay for your kids’ insurance. If it is too big a burden, tell them to comparison-shop for their own individual plans on the marketplace. The actions of their employer, as you describe them, are illegal. You maybe should tell them to do something about that.
Or you can just make stuff up about soaring premiums. http://tinyurl.com/zl8qy8h
Mike Appleton, paging Mike Appleton, please pick up the white courtesy phone. Your humble pie is getting cold.
Kudos, JT. Your hard work and integrity paid off on this.
There is nothing in the Constitution that “requires” Congress to perform future acts when it changes its mind about it. It can make and unmake laws as it sees fit, as long as it stays within Constitutional parameters. Each properly decided law is the rule, and the most recent replaces the last one. The whole point of congressional funding powers is that Congress is the branch MOST vulnerable to the will of the voters. Why should the next Congress be bound by what the last one did, especially if the taxpayers suddenly wake up and see what a failure it was. That’s why the power of the purse should stay just where it is now.
Tank you Turley for perhaps freeing up some of my income which might not now go to tax.
I do not need medical care. I am gonna croak and not get hung up on all these scam artists witches which you people call doctors.
“Last I checked, the Congress PASSED the ACA”
It was a partisan bill, as the Democrats kicked the Republicans out of the healthcare debate.
The president can’t just dip his hand into the people’s purse and force them to pay for a partisan bill that he created.
Obama accused Bush of power grabs but that’s all I’ve seen out of him. He should step down as president for breaking the laws of our country. He was sworn in to protect and defend the Constitution, not constantly violate it.
Both of my daughters work full time but they call it ‘part time’, so the employer doesn’t have to provide them healthcare benefits. Both are under 26 and the burden is on me as a parent to provide them both with healthcare insurance, when I’m retired.
Both are in college and they still make them verify the parents income. They’re both over 21 and yet their healthcare Insurance and college costs are still on the parents back. When an immigrant can come here illegally and get both for free!
I hope Congress defunded Obamacare and goes back to the old healthcare system. So I can spend the last part of my life without worrying about money or how to pay my bills.
As Trump says, it should be America first. Let’s take care of our own first.
Remember the acronym “CWAC” for “Congress Writes All Checks.” One of the inconvenient truths for the President and naive posters like “reasonfan.”
“reasonfan:” “…Congress deliberately breaks the law…” How do you quantify the severity of your so called “Congressional law breaking” compared to Obama’s “Presidential Kill List” in which he murdered by Presidential decree, by a drone strike, without charge, without trial, and lacking any over sight, sixteen year old American citizen Anwar Al-Awlaki?
Till you post your so-called “reasoning,” I’ll happily classify you with persons like Congressional Dems Pelosi and Boxer: when a Republican occupies the WH he’s a war monger and usurper of Congressional over sight. When a Democratic President utterly demolishes two nations like Syria and Libya, murdering hundreds of thousands of innocents and personally creating 4M refugees, you award him a Peace Prize.
PS: I’m no Republican apologist. Obama and Bush both belong in prison. Ban the two major parties for national office for at least a half C.
RB, great points. Where was the right wing upholding the Constitution when the Bush v. Gore was happening? Or the Terry Schaivo case. Hypocritical…
J Mirs – both those cases dealt with state law, not federal law.
Enforcing constitutionality is always a good thing unless it’s cherry-picked. The ruling would be more legitimate if “Citizens United” were overturned or we had a publicly-funded campaign finance system.
In the current system the “constituents” Congress is representing are the insurance lobbyists not the American people – which grossly violates the letter and more importantly the spirit or intent of the Constitution.
To many Americans it’s simply a rigged carnival game where the House always wins, cherry-picking constitutionality and enforcement of laws.
Americans have lost faith in most government institutions with rulings like this, which created non-establishment candidates like Trump and Sanders.
So a question I have for the Professor is:
What recourse do the ‘people’ have to force congress to appropriate, given that the law was passed by congress? Or are we saying that our system is so broken that a partisan (and might I say petty and public be damned) congress can refuse to follow the law without any recourse (other than of course electing another congress). Am I reading this correctly from the article?
‘“The problem the Secretaries have tried to solve here is . . . a failure to appropriate, not a failure in drafting. Congress’s subsequent inaction, not the text of the ACA, is what prompts the Secretaries to force the elephant into the mousehole. There are no inherent flaws in the ACA that keep Section 1402 payments from being paid, in advance or otherwise. . . . There is nothing in the ACA that prevents compliance. The funds simply must be appropriated.”’
So how do people afford healthcare when this all expires in 2017?.
B Sco – they are not going to be able to record it in 2017 anyway.
record = afford
And still the stammering, whistle-toothed ignoramus-in-chief will not be impeached. Gutless GOP.
Crash – impeaching him would be a waste of time. There are not enough votes in the Senate to convict him.
“What happens next?”
Not much in the near term. The judge has already stayed her own ruling pending the appeal which the Obama Administration is 100% certain to file. If it survives appeal, which many legal experts are already opining that it won’t, it would mean that “insurers will have to come up with a way of providing the cost sharing reductions, and that would probably mean increased premiums down the road” <– this last little bit is from CNN.
REASONFAN – You should read the decision. It explains it clearly. “The Affordable Care Act
unambiguously appropriates money for Section 1401 premium tax credits but not for Section
1402 reimbursements to insurers.” Reimbursements to the insurers still needs to be approved by the House. The President can’t just take money that has not been appropriated by the House in which he did in this case.
Source: https://panampost.com/belen-marty/2015/10/06/inside-the-cuban-hospitals-that-castro-doesnt-want-tourists-to-see/