Power Alley: Braidwood Decided At Supremes, This Morning -- Unsurprisingly, The ACA Of 2010 (Or "Obamacare") Remains The Law Of The Land. Appointments Stand.

Here over 15 years after it became law, a 2010 package that offers coverage to over 44 million previously uninsured Americans is still being resisted in red states. The latest Texas case is now at an end.

The Supremes are saying -- 6 to 3 -- enough is enough. This is well-settled law. Attacks on the ACA have all failed. So too, this one. Here's the opinion -- and a bit:

. . .Braidwood’s arguments that Congress has not properly vested appointment authority in the Secretary fail. Braidwood first claims that the 1999 statute using “convene” does not confer appointment authority and is instead “agnostic” about who should appoint Task Force members. Brief for Respondents 22. . . .

Braidwood’s interpretation would create a bizarre scheme where Congress was entirely indifferent about who would appoint members making legally binding healthcare recommendations. Braidwood next argues that even if the Director has appointment authority, Reorganization Plan No. 3 does not transfer that power to the Secretary because it applies only to the Director’s functions as of 1966.

This frozen-in-time reading finds no footing in statutory text or common sense. The Plan’s language “all functions” most naturally means an ongoing transfer of authority, including new powers granted by Congress after 1966. 80 Stat. 1610. Pp. 35–42. . . . The Secretary has properly exercised his appointment authority since June 2023. . . .

It is also no surprise that Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch were the dissenters. Y A W N.

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