Every time a new development occurs concerning Obamacare, a new chapter gets added to my next book. Nancy Pelosi offered some useful soundbites:
Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, said this week’s ruling by a federal judge allowing House Republicans to sue the administration over money being spent under the law is an “astounding” decision that won’t hold up under appeal.
“It will be overturned,” Pelosi said during a press conference in the Capitol. “But it was an interesting decision because it was unprecedented in our entire history.” …
“I’m confident the court would not want to become an arbiter between arguments between the executive and legislative branches of government,” she said. “We’ve been down that path. The Constitution does not contemplate that rule, for the Supreme Court, and Republicans have tried 60 ways to repeal the Affordable Care Act. I believe that this will be overturned.”
John Boehner was, as to be expected, jubilant.
Boehner hailed the decision, saying it “sends a strong message that no one, especially no president, is above being held accountable to the Constitution.”
“I cannot overstate how big a victory this is for limited government and our first principles,” Boehner told reporters Thursday in the Capitol.
“Time and again the president has chosen to ignore the will of the American people and to rewrite laws on his own without a vote of the Congress,” he added. [That’s] not the way our system of government was designed to work. If this president can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to do so as well.”
I told Modern Healthcare that DOJ will almost certainly file an interlocutory appeal, offered this statement:
Josh Blackman, an assistant professor at South Texas College of Law, agrees that the White House’s next move will likely be to seek such an appeal. Blackman filed an amicus brief on behalf of the libertarian Cato Institute in the recent Supreme Court case over the Affordable Care Act supporting the challengers.
“In this case, the government’s best defense is standing, so they’re going to appeal as soon as they can,” Blackman said. “There’s no point in allowing this to go through the complicated constitutional question if the question of standing is not resolved.”