A Federal Appeals Court Questions if Anyone Has the Right to Appeal the Ruling on ObamaCare as Unconstitutional

ObamaCare could be in a very odd sort of jeopardy. Conservative lower-court judges are openly questioning if “anyone” (specifically, attorney generals from Democratic states and the house) have the right to appeal the lower-court ruling that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.

Specifically, oral arguments about the constitutionality of the ACA are set for July 9, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is actually questioning if the ruling by a 5th Circuit judge can be appealed at all.

If they rule it can’t be appealed, then the ACA will have been declared unconstitutional by a lower court judge and thus all Americans will lose access to preexisting conditions protections and subsidies.

This set of events is fairly out of the ordinary as we essentially have a partisan political battle happening in the judicial branch (and the lower courts specifically) that will impact almost every American and the entire healthcare system.

For more on his story, see the Washington Post’s Appellate court raises potential new threat to ACA.

NOTE: The headlines says the court questions if “anyone” has the right appeal. To be clear, they are questioning if attorney generals from Democratic states and the house have the right to appeal, not if literally “anyone” has the right to appeal.