With Healthcare.gov still not working the way it is supposed to — and large portions of the “back office” functions yet to be completed — the Administration is preparing another fix: Allowing consumers to purchase qualified insurance plans directly from insurers with the benefit of the subsidies that are only supposed to be available through […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
More on the Legality of the Latest ObamaCare Fix
By Jonathan H. Adler on November 18, 2013 11:52 pm in Administrative Law, Health Care, Insurance Exchanges
Last Thursday, the President announced a change in Administration policy designed to ensure that those who like their health insurance plans will be able to keep them for at least one more year, despite the legal requirements of the PPACA and its implementing regulations. On Friday, I explained the President lacks the authority to waive […]
Judge Rejects Immediate Appeal in Fast and Furious Document Case
Last month, Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied the federal government’s motion to dismiss a suit filed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to enforce a subpoena for documents related to the “Fast and Furious” scandal. Today, Judge Jackson rebuffed the Justice Department again, refusing to certify her decision for an immediate appeal. According to Judge […]
Minnesota Bound
This Wednesday I will be in Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota to give a pair of talks. At 12:15 I will be speaking on property rights and environmental protection to the University of Minnesota Law School student chapter of the Federalist Society. Details here. Then at 3pm I will be speaking on federalism and environmental […]
The Legality of the Latest ObamaCare Fix
Yesterday, the President announced a purported fix to the problem that, under the PPACA, insurance companies are not allowed to renew policies that fail to comply with PPACA requirements, even if consumers like their existing plans. This was not an accident. Forcing all health insurance policies to comply with federal minimum requirements was a key […]
What Julia Ioffe Has Against Jenny McCarthy
Julia Ioffe writes on having pertussis, aka “whooping cough,” in The New Republic: At this writing, I have been coughing for 72 days. Not on and off coughing, but continuously, every day and every night, for two and a half months. And not just coughing, but whooping: doubled over, body clenched, sucking violently for air, […]
Could VA AG Race Go to Federal Court?
The Virginia Attorney General’s race remains too close to call. At last count, Democratic State Senator Mark R. Herring had a slim lead over Republican State Senator Mark D. Obenshain. If the lead evaporates, will Democrats take the contest to federal court? Rick Hasen thinks they might. His article in Slate begins: The race for […]
Flipping on Trans Fats
This week the Food and Drug Administration announced that it is targeting trans fats in food. Specifically, the FDA announced its preliminary determination that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the primary source of trans fat in the American diet, are [no longer] “generally recognized as safe” as food additives. If finalized, this determination would mean that […]
Holding Prosecutors Accountable
An editorial in yesterday’s NYT begins: For what may be the first time on record, a former prosecutor in Texas is going to jail for failing to turn over exculpatory evidence in a murder trial. The 10-day jail sentence for the prosecutor, Ken Anderson, is insultingly short — the victim of his misconduct, Michael Morton, spent […]
Upcoming Talks
I have not been blogging much of late; there’s too much on my plate. I am, however, giving a few talks in the next few weeks that may be of interest to VC readers. Tomorrow, November 5, I’ll be speaking about the NLRB v. Noel Canning case before the Federalist Society student chapter at the Villanova University […]
Judge Rejects DoJ Motion to Dismiss Second Suit Against IRS Tax Credit Rule
This morning, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman denied the federal government’s motion to dismiss in Halbig v. Sebelius, a suit challenging the legality of an IRS rule authorizing tax credits for the purchase of health insurance on federally run exchanges. This suit is one of four challenging the IRS rule. With today’s ruling, the […]
Do Law Review Word Limits Matter?
Professor Bainbridge investigates, and finds that neither the Yale Law Journal nor the Harvard Law Review appears to observe their stated preference for shorter articles.
Climate Change Goes Back to Court
This morning, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA concerning the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. This is quite significant. Although the grant is limited, it focuses on one of the most important legal questions raised by this litigation, and puts some of […]
Priest Sues DoD Over Shutdown
A Catholic priest and a religious military veteran are suing the Department of Defense over the federal government shutdown, BLT reports. According to the complaint, they allege that the federal government has violated their First Amendment rights by preventing the priest from performing, and the veteran from receiving, religious services at military facilities due to […]
Federal Judge Re-Opens Langley Fork Park
A federal judge has ordered the National Park Service to re-open Langley Fork Park, at least temporarily. The Washington Post reports: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the National Park Service to immediately reopen Langley Fork Park in McLean — which was closed Oct. 1 — and allow the boys and girls of the McLean Youth Lacrosse […]