South Carolina Healthcare Voices

The Justice Department said Monday evening that it had decided not to ask the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta to take up the case. A three-member panel of the court last month decided 2 to 1 that Congress overstepped its authority in passing the Affordable Care Act, which requires virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance.

Appeals courts that have considered the law are split.

In June, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati upheld the health-care law in a separate case.

Earlier this month, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond turned down a challenge to the law brought by the Commonwealth of Virginia and others.

The timing of how to respond to the loss in the Atlanta appeals court and when to seek Supreme Court consideration has prompted considerable political speculation about President Obama’s signature domestic achievement.

The law is one of the most contentious and visible ways the president differs with his Republican challengers. A Supreme Court decision either way — that the law is a valid exercise of Congress’s power or an unconstitutional overreach — could have political effects neither side can predict.

The administration might have been able to delay a ruling on the law until after the election if it had asked for an en banc review, meaning that all the judges on the 11th Circuit would hear the case. But administration officials came to the conclusion it was time to move the issue on.

“It’s an open question whether going en banc would have been successful,” said one administration official who would not agree to be named discussing the decision. “It’s likely it wouldn’t have even been granted.”

Critics of the law had demanded the administration not drag its feet in getting the case to the high court, and Monday’s decision drew rare praise. (more…)