A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, all nominated by Democratic presidents, heard arguments today in Richmond in two cases challenging President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul.
In a packed second-floor courtroom, judges grilled Liberty University counsel Mathew D. Staver over the contention that Congress could not regulate a decision not to purchase health insurance.
Later, the judges focused on questions of legal standing when hearing the case filed by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli – namely, whether the state has the legal right to challenge the health law on behalf of individuals just by virtue of passing a statute that protects its residents from being compelled to buy insurance.
After more than two hours of arguments, the court recessed. A decision on the cases could come at any time, but typically takes 45 days.
Liberty is appealing a ruling by a federal judge Norman K. Moon dismissing its challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
In Virginia's case, the federal government is appealing a December decision by federal judge Henry E. Hudson that found for the state in declaring the act's individual insurance mandate unconstitutional.
Virginia was represented by Solicitor General E. Duncan Getchell Jr., with Cuccinelli and other attorneys at the table. The federal government sent its acting solicitor general, Neal Kumar Katyal to address the court.
Katyal said: "Congress is not asking someone to buy something they otherwise wouldn't buy – everyone uses health care," he said, in response to the argument that the government has no right to regulate inactivity – in other words, people who choose not to purchase insurance.
The federal government estimates that there are 50 million uninsured Americans and that their health costs amount to $43 billion a year and increase the average insurance premium for Americans $1,000 annually.
The appeals court selects judges for its panels at random. The three judges in the health-care case are presiding judge Diana Gribbon Motz, nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1994; and Andre M. Davis and James A. Wynn Jr., both nominated to the appeals court by Obama in 2009.
Liberty presented its appeal first, followed by the federal government, appealing the decision in the Virginia case.
Motts asked Staver whether he did not believe that the government has the ability to regulate insurance. To which Staver responded: "but not to force people to be in health insurance."
In filing his challenge to the federal act, Cuccinelli had argued that Congress overstepped its authority by including the individual mandate which will require nearly every American to buy health insurance or pay a penalty by 2014.
Outside the courtroom, protesters representing both sides of the issue held news conferences. Opponents of the health-care overhaul held signs that said "Stand with Cuccinelli" and "Government health care is UnAmerican."
Cuccinelli will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. on the Virginia case.
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