Cert Petitions Filed Today Make Clear Case for Why SCOTUS Should Take Up the Trump-Texas Lawsuit Immediately
Washington, DC — Today, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra along with other Democratic state Attorneys General and the U.S. House of Representatives filed cert petitions to the Supreme Court in Texas v. United States, the Trump-backed lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act. The petitioners argue that the court should take this case immediately and end the partisan attack on Americans’ health care. Before the holidays, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down as unconstitutional the ACA’s individual mandate and remanded the case back to the lower court judge the decision on what other parts of the ACA should be eliminated – the very judge who has already ruled the entire law unconstitutional. In response to the cert petition, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:
“The Fifth Circuit has purposefully injected partisan politics into our health care system. The decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to first delay its ruling and then remand the case back to the same judge who has already declared the entire law unconstitutional is a blatant attempt to spare President Trump and Republicans from the political consequences of destroying our health care during an election year. The Supreme Court now has the responsibility to hear this case and get the politics out of our health care system and to end the uncertainty hanging over America’s health care. If President Trump and Republicans have their way, 20 million Americans will lose their insurance coverage, 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions will be stripped of their protections, and costs will go up for millions. Without immediate action from the Supreme Court, the fate of their health care will cruelly and needlessly hang in the balance far too long.”