Federal Appeals Court Upholds Health Care Reform Law

Creatas Images/Thinkstock(CINCINNATI) -- In a victory for the Obama administration, a federal appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The decision marks the first time an appellate court has weighed in on the issue and also the first time a judge, appointed by a Republican president, has voted to uphold the law.

The case stems from a challenge from the Thomas More Center, a public interest law firm, and four Michigan residents who claimed that the individual mandate -- the portion of the law that requires individuals to buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a tax penalty -- is unconstitutional.

In his opinion Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr. of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said the law is constitutional under the Commerce Clause because the provision "regulates economic activity" with a "substantial" effect on interstate commerce.

"In addition," he wrote, "Congress had a rational basis to believe that the provision was essential to its larger economic scheme reforming the interstate markets in heath care and health insurance."

Martin, who was appointed to the bench by President Jimmy Carter, was joined in the decision by Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush. Before Wednesday, every other judge who had voted to uphold the law was nominated by a Democratic president and those who voted against it were nominated by a Republican president.

This will not be the only federal appeals court ruling on the law. A federal appeals court in Virginia appeared more skeptical of the law when it heard arguments in May.

The question raised by these cases about the Affordable Care Act - whether the government has the authority to make citizens buy health insurance or pay a fine - is almost assured a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court.

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