Breaking: 4th Circuit Rejects Two Obamacare Challenges on Procedural Grounds

Lewis F. Powell Courthouse in Richmond, Va., home to the Fourth Circuit. Image via Wikipedia.

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has rejected two Obamacare constitutional challenges, on the creative premise that the individual mandate is a tax, and that the Anti-Injunction Act of 1867 requires that a tax already be implemented in order for plaintiffs to have standing to sue on the basis that a tax is unconstitutional.

Up to this point, every single court that has ruled on the Obamacare challenges, whether led by Republican or Democratic appointees, has concurred that the individual mandate in PPACA is a penalty, not a tax. So it will be interesting to read the opinions in Virginia v. Sebelius and Liberty v. Geithner (which I’ve uploaded to this blog) to see how the judges justified their approach. The judges also write that, even if the plaintiffs had had standing to sue, they would have upheld the mandate.

The three judges who ruled on the case were all Democratic appointees, including two by President Obama: Diana Motz of Baltimore (Clinton), Andre Davis of Baltimore (Obama), and James Wynn of Raleigh (Obama).

I’ll have more thoughts after I’ve read the opinions. For reference, here is my discussion of Judge Henry Hudson’s district court ruling in Virgina v. Sebelius overturning the mandate.

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Submited at Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 8:00 pm on Health by Demoli
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