Health Care

RELEASE: To Defend the ACA, CAC Joins the House General Counsel and Munger, Tolles & Olson in Representing the House of Representatives as it Moves to Intervene in Court Challenge

In an Intervention Motion filed Thursday evening in federal district court, the House asserts its institutional right to intervene in this litigation and defend the ACA

WASHINGTON, DC – On behalf of the House of Representatives, the Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC), along with the House General Counsel and Munger, Tolles & Olson, filed a motion to intervene in Texas v. United States, a federal case challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Although the Department of Justice typically defends the validity of Acts of Congress when they are challenged in court, in this case, DOJ has joined the plaintiffs in attacking the validity of the individual mandate and has argued that other key provisions of the law should also be invalidated.

Read the motion to intervene here.

“Federal law recognizes the value of having a federal party defend the constitutionality of a federal statute,” Brianne Gorod, CAC Chief Counsel said.  “Under the present circumstances, the House would be the only organ of the federal government playing this critically important role.  Quite simply, the House is stepping in to protect the constitutionality of a law it passed on behalf of the American people, a law intended to achieve affordable, near-universal health care coverage.  The Constitutional Accountability Center is proud to be working with the House of Representatives General Counsel, and with former U.S. Solicitor General Don Verrilli and his colleagues at Munger, Tolles & Olson in the House’s effort to protect the ACA and to ensure that affordable health care remains available to our nation’s people.”

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Resources:

CAC and Munger, Tolles & Olson’s motion to intervene on behalf of the House of Representatives in Texas v. United States, filed January 3, 2019: https://www.theusconstitution.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Motion-to-Intervene.pdf

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Constitutional Accountability Center is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history. Visit the CAC website at www.theusconstitution.org

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