AUSTIN— The Texas Public Policy Foundation applauds the Department of Justice’s letter notifying the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that it agrees with the trial court’s ACA decision.
“The Department of Justice has determined that the district court’s judgment should be affirmed,” the letter reads.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled in December that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional and, because it cannot be severed from the ACA, the rest of the law is invalid.
“The letter by the DOJ acknowledges what is already common knowledge—the trial court was correct in ruling the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional,” said Robert Henneke, general counsel at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “With the DOJ’s support for the rule of law, Americans are one step closer to having free choice in their health care decisions.”
The Texas Public Policy Foundation represents the individual plaintiffs who joined with attorney generals from 20 states in arguing that since Congress set at zero the ACA’s shared responsibility payment, the individual mandate cannot be saved from being struck down as unconstitutional.