Hold your horses . . . 4th Circuit UPHOLDS Obamacare against same challenge to subsidies

[bigtree]

Brent Kendall ?@brkend 2m

Breaking: 4th Circuit issues ruling on ACA insurance subsidies, sides with Obama administration. Ruling at odds w DC Circuit from this morn. http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/king_usca4_20140722.pdf

Sam Stein ?@samsteinhp 5m
And, like that, the 4th Circuit now UPHOLDS Obamacare against same challenge to subsidies http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/king_usca4_20140722.pdf … h/t @MikeScarcella

Adrianna McIntyre ?@onceuponA 4m
Fourth Circuit just upheld subsidies in King, contradicting Halbig ruling. http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/king_usca4_20140722.pdf …


TPM:

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Obamacare against a sweeping challenge to its federal subsidies on Tuesday. A 3-judge panel unanimously ruled that the statute permits the federal exchange to provide subsidies.

The ruling came within hours of a separate ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that the federal exchange was not permitted to provide subsidies, dealing a major blow to the law. The vote there was 2-1. The Obama administration said it intends to seek a full bench ruling which could conceivably reverse the outcome of the D.C. Circuit decision.


Michael A. Scarcella ?@MikeScarcella 7m
4th Cir. Judge Davis on how his lunch order explains congressional intent re: health exchanges http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/king_usca4_20140722.pdf …



related:

Clear-eyed analysis of the D.C. Circuit ruling from Kevin Drum at MoJo

Obamacare challenge shows how willing republicans (and others) are to lay waste to Americans’ lives

[Lee-Lee]

1. Just men's SCOTUS will make the final ruling

[CincyDem]

10. Somehow that's just not very reassuring.

Maybe we'll get another one of those special case ruling that they don't want to be used a precedent for anything in the future. We all know how well the last one of those worked out.

[valerief]

37. Unless a bolt from the blue strikes down two of them. nt

[steve2470]

2. k&r nt

[elleng]

3. Very good news.

Thanks.

[MohRokTah]

4. The 1st Circuit will rule the same en banc.

The SCOTUS will be faced with two different districts upholding the subsidies and will be able to easily take the coward's way out by not granting cert on appeal.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. What does that mean?

I don't know what "granting cert" is, but if SCOTUS have contradictory rulings in courts beneath them, they have to give a ruling themselves, don't they? They can leave a federal law enforced in different ways in different parts of the country.

[elleng]

12. Yes, when there are 'splits' among the Circuits,

the Supremes take up the matter. 'Granting cert.' means, essentially the Court will entertain a case.

[MohRokTah]

22. But there will not be a split.

The ruling today from the 1st circuit court will be reversed en banc.

[SidDithers]

23. en banc is before the full court, instead of a 3 judge panel?...nt

Sid

[elleng]

31. Yes, entire court.

[geek tragedy]

24. Will be upheld en banc by 4th and DC Circuit, will be overturned by 7th and 10th nt

See you at the SCOTUS

[elleng]

30. 'will be reversed en banc,'

or may be reversed? And there's the 4th Circuit:

http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/king_usca4_20140722.pdf

[MohRokTah]

32. IT will, 8 Dems, 5 Reps

Now you may have a point on the 4th as there are 8 and 8.

[MohRokTah]

18. IT won't be split after the 1st rules en banc.

The 1st is comprised of 8 Democratic judges and 5 Republican judges while the 3 judge panel that ruled was comprised of 2 Republicans and 1 Democrat. An en banc decision will reverse the earlier ruling.

So two appeals courts with identical rulings will be appealed to the SCOTUS. Roberts has enough controversial 5-4 decisions and simply not granting certiorari allows both rulings to stand and gives direction to all other circuits.

[geek tragedy]

26. There are cases pending in the Republican-majority 7th and 10th circuits

Every Republican has voted to overrule the IRS, every Democrat has voted to uphold the IRS ruling.

[MohRokTah]

33. Damn, forgot those. eom

[geek tragedy]

34. at the district court level, I believe, Oklahoma and Indiana

Hopefully, we can kick this past 2016 elections and have Democrats kick Boehner out and fix this legislatively.

[savalez]

45. Doesn't it take only 4 members of scotus to accept a case?

Scotus has 4 RW stooges waiting to vote together at all times.

[MohRokTah]

46. It rarely happens when only 4 members accept a case.

Mostly because ti takes five members to rule on a given case.

It does happen, though.

[Swede Atlanta]

11. I am a bit confused about the respective jurisdictions of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals

and the geographic circuit courts. It has been my understanding that the D.C. Circuit was charged primarily with adjudicating issues arising out of the decisions and rule making of agencies of the federal government located in D.C. whereas the circuit courts ruled on cases and controversies arising in their respective geographic jurisdictions.

Where do the two cross? Does a decision on an "agency' decision by the D.C. Circuit Court supersede decisions made on similar issues by the geographic circuits? If so is that the appellate roadmap..i.e. district court, circuit court of appeals, D.C. Circuit Court, SCOTUS for matters related to regulations, etc.?

I think the SCOTUS would have a hard time not granting cert on this issue. This is a significant issue. I cannot see them letting stand subsidies to individuals living in states that didn't create their own exchange that happen to live in one geographic circuit and deny subsidies to individuals living in states that didn't create their own exchanges where that circuit court held the subsidies invalid.

It could happen of course but I think this would be considered a matter of urgency where you have millions of individuals affected.

[MohRokTah]

20. I wouldn't get worked up abut the ruling from the 1st.

The ruling came from two REpublicans and one Democrat.

An en banc ruling will come from eight Democrats and five REpublicans.

They'll reverse the ruling that was given today. Thus the 4th and 1st circuits will have identical rulings appealed to the SCOTUS and the SCOTUS can take the easy way out by not granting certiorari in either, thus allowing both a regional and the 1st's rulings to stand and give direction to all other circuits.

[IronLionZion]

5. Now what?

Supreme Court next or are there other courts along the way?

[enough]

15. Read the Kevin Drum piece linked in the OP. A very clear explanation of all that.

[IronLionZion]

21. en banc review in the majority liberal full DC circuit court

and then on to the supreme court. I really wish we had more liberals there.

[MohRokTah]

25. 8-5 in the 1st

IT will almost certainly be reversed, thus the ruling of the 4th and the 1st will agree. The SCOTUS will be free to deny cert.

[Lex]

6. "Applying deference to the IRS’s determination, however, we uphold the rule

as a permissible exercise of the agency’s discretion."

". . . when conducting statutory analysis, “a reviewing
court should not confine itself to examining a particular
statutory provision in isolation. Rather, the meaning – or
ambiguity – of certain words or phrases may only become evident
when placed in context.” Nat’l Ass’n of Home Builders v.
Defenders of Wildlife, 551 U.S. 644, 666 (2007)"

From the ruling.

[2banon]

7. Not surprising.. all of the courts are in the pockets of Wall Street after all... n/t

[geek tragedy]

9. Did you read the story correctly? This court ruled the correct way nt

[conservaphobe]

13. Um, they just refused to deny health care to millions of poor people over a sentence structure...

Not a very Wall Streety thing to do.

[2banon]

14. actually it is exactly.

denying health care to poor people is exactly how Wall Street profits, haven't you noticed that?

[conservaphobe]

16. "REFUSED TO DENY" nt

[enough]

17. I think you may be misreading the OP. (nt)

[2banon]

19. omg, yep you're right..

my mistake.

[flamingdem]

27. K+R

[SidDithers]

28. DU rec...

:thubmsup:

Sid

[Peacetrain]

35. Good news!!

[herding cats]

36. This does bode much better for us now.

I'm holding out that the original intent will be the prevailing ruling.

[bigtree]

38. .

[annabanana]

39. Lets see how long it takes the trollish media coverage to catch up...

They've been saying "oh noes bad for Obamacare,.. a real setback". . etc etc all morning...

[bigtree]

40. word

Tara McGuinness ?@HealthCareTara 1h

.@ABC @ABCPolitics You guys did a breaking news alert on the court case striking tax credits, but not the one today UPHOLDING them?

[Cha]

44. Exactly, annabanana!

Washington Post ✔ @washingtonpost
Federal appeals courts issue conflicting rulings on key part of Affordable Care Act http://wapo.st/1lr6dxf

aspirational12 @aspirational12
Follow
@washingtonpost So the first one was presented in MSM as "HUGE BLOW" to Obamacare, but the 2nd one is presented as "conflicting." LOL!
7:30 AM - 22 Jul 2014 9 Retweets 2 favorites

TOD

[perdita9]

41. Are court opinions based on law...

...or on astrology charts? I'm beginning to lose all faith in our system of justice.

[Jack Rabbit]

42. This part is good news, of course, but both this and the DC case will go to the Supreme Shysters

I don't feel good about that.

[bigtree]

43. »