Washington D.C., Jan 22, 2020 / 09:00 am
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to fast-track hearing a new appeal of the Affordable Care Act. The decision comes after the act's individual mandate was struck down by a federal circuit court.
In December, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and sent the case back to the district courts to decide if the rest of the law could still be enforced without the mandate.
In 2012, the Supreme Court upheld most of the law, ruling the individual mandate a "tax" that was within Congress' authority to require. Once the Trump administration removed the penalty for not complying with the mandate, the state of Texas sued the Trump administration, arguing that the penalty was no longer a tax.
The Fifth Circuit's decision was appealed to the Supreme Court. After the decision, members of the House of Representatives joined 19 states along with the District of Columbia and Democratic Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky, in asking the Supreme Court for expedited consideration of the appeal.