[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Wednesday ruled [text, PDF] that Republican members of the House of Representatives have standing to sue the Secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Treasury regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Secretaries asked the court to dismiss the case, saying this is a political issue and that the Executive has the power to implement law. Judge Rosemary Collyer [official profile] addressed only the issue of whether the House can sue the Secretaries of the departments. Plaintiffs are claiming that the Secretaries have spent billions of dollars supporting the ACA violating, Article 1 of the Constitution, and that the Secretaries have amended parts of the ACA, narrowing its scope. The court ruled that the plaintiffs have standing to sue the departments for their constitutional claims regarding money spent, but do not have standing concerning the argument that the department heads amended the act.
Comprehensive health care reform [JURIST backgrounder] was passed by Congress in March 2010, and recent legal challenges have reinvigorated debate. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) [official website] reports that between 2010 and 2015, at least 21 states enacted laws attempting to challenge or completely opt out of mandatory provisions of the ACA. In June the Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] in King v. Burwell [SCOTUSblog materials] that tax credits available to those who buy health insurance through state exchanges are also available to those who buy it through the federal exchange. Last year the court ruled [JURIST report] in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] that closely held corporations can deny contraceptive coverage to their employees for religious reasons.