Attorney General encouraged by U.S. Court of Appeals ruling on Obamacare 

December 20, 2018

ATLANTA, GA – Attorney General Chris Carr today issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit holding that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional:

“Once again, the courts have agreed with what we already knew – the cornerstone of Obamacare is unconstitutional,” said Attorney General Chris Carr. “Now, we need to get back to work and do it the right way. Congress, the States and the private sector must seize this great opportunity to fix the mess created by Obamacare and do right by the American people.”

Attorney General Carr remains committed to upholding the rule of law to protect the basic principles on which our nation is founded. It is in keeping with this commitment that he joined a coalition of states challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare in federal district court in February of 2018. When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Obamacare in 2012, a majority of the justices held that Obamacare’s individual mandate was constitutional only because its accompanying tax penalty could justify forcing individuals to purchase health insurance under Congress’ taxing power. In 2017, Congress voted to remove the tax penalty for those who lacked insurance. The coalition has consistently argued that without that penalty, Obamacare’s intrusive individual mandate cannot be preserved as a tax, rendering Obamacare entirely unlawful.

In December of 2018, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas agreed with the coalition that the individual mandate was unconstitutional, and that the remainder of Obamacare was not severable from that provision. Shortly after, petitioners appealed this decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Yesterday, that court too declared the individual mandate unconstitutional, returning the case to the Northern District of Texas to determine the effect of that ruling on the rest of Obamacare.