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Nelson Mullins Team Files Brief for Two States in Obama Healthcare Law

Republican legislators from Minnesota and North Carolina, represented by Raleigh Managing Partner Noah Huffstetler and Atlanta partner Rebekah Plowman, filed an amicus brief in May in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals supporting the 26 plaintiff states in their case against the federal government challenging the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law last year by President Obama.

The brief argues that PPACA is unconstitutional because (i) the individual mandate (requiring individuals to purchase health insurance) is not a valid regulation of economic activity pursuant to the United States Constitution’s Commerce Clause, and that the conditions imposed upon the states pursuant to their acceptance of federal funds are insufficiently clear resulting in elected representatives not being able to convey to their constituents the ramifications of the law and (ii) the law would require the states to subject themselves to unknowable and potentially crippling obligations in order to continue their participation in the Medicaid program. An initial challenge to the PPACA was made within hours after its signing by the Attorney general of Florida, Bill McCollum, who was shortly thereafter joined by 12 states in opposition to the bill. As of today, there are 26 separate lawsuits challenging the law.  It is widely considered that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear one of the many legal challenges to the law as early as this year.


Notably, on December 13, 2010, a federal judge in Virginia ruled that the law’s mandate requiring individuals to purchase health insurance was unconstitutional.  Oral arguments have already been heard for two appeals in the 4th Circuit, which is expected to rule soon on lawsuits brought by the state of Virginia and by Liberty University.


On June 1, 2011, the case brought by the Thomas More Law Center was heard by the federal appeals court for the 6th Circuit.  The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that the two Republican-appointed judges on the panel pressed government lawyers on the constitutionality of the individual mandate.  However, the judges also indicated they had concerns about the plaintiffs’ standing that could keep them from ruling on the merits of the case.  A decision in this sixth circuit case is expected in the coming months.  As this is the third case to reach a federal appeals court, the stage is being set for these cases to quickly make their way to the U.S. Supreme Court.