On February 22, 2011, the District Court granted the motion of the United States to dismiss, and the plaintiffs thereafter filed an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

On July 5, 2011, CAC filed an amicus curiae brief in the D.C. Circuit defending the constitutionality of the Act and urging affirmance of the District Court’s ruling. As in other cases involving the Act, our brief in Seven-Sky argues that, under the original meaning of both the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause, Congress acted within its constitutional authority in enacting the Act’s minimum coverage provision.

On November 8, 2011, a conservative panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Read our press release hailing the decision here.

For a detailed discussion of the constitutionality of the Act, please read (in addition to our legal briefs) our Issue Brief: The States, Health Care Reform, and the Constitution.

On June 29, 2012, the Supreme Court denied certiorari. For more information on the Supreme Court’s consideration of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, please go here.