A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) challenging Obamacare.
Judge William C. Griesbach, the Chief United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, issued the ruling on Monday which could prove ominous for House Republicans as they prepare their own lawsuit against Obamacare.
Griesbach, a George W. Bush appointee, said that Article III of the Constitution prevents Johnson’s lawsuit from moving forward and suggests that any remedy must come from Congress. He said that the Wisconsin Republican cannot prove he is injured by the policy, which moved lawmakers and some of their staff from the usual federal employee health benefit plan and into the new Obamacare exchanges.
“Under our constitutional design, in the absence of a concrete injury to a party that can be redressed by the courts, disputes between the executive and legislative branches over the exercise of their respective powers are to be resolved through the political process, not by decisions issued by federal judges,” he wrote. [emphasis added]
Rollcall elaborates that: “In making his judgement, Griesbach worked through several arguments that explained how the Office of Personnel Management regulation harmed the plaintiffs, finding none of them persuasive,” writing:
“The question of the legality of the regulation has not been determined yet; although Plaintiffs believe the regulation is unlawful, such a belief cannot be enough to create standing because that would open the door to any uninjured party who had a generalized grievance with a government regulation. Under such an approach, there would be no principled limit on standing because a plaintiff need only allege a belief that the challenged regulation is illegal.”
Rachel Maddow’s blog reports that Republican support was considerable for Johnson’s suit, going on to wonder if Boehner is paying attention:
Let’s not forget that in April, Johnson not only had high hopes for his case, he also had the enthusiastic support of his Republican colleagues. As we talked about at the time, 38 GOP senators signed onto a legal brief, urging the courts to rule in Johnson’s favor.
As these lawmakers saw it, they were fighting for the preservation of the republic. “The unlawful executive action at issue in this case is not an isolated incident,” the brief said. “Rather, it is part of an ongoing campaign by the executive branch to rewrite the Affordable Care Act on a wholesale basis.”
The courts must side with Johnson, the GOP lawmakers’ brief added, because the administration’s campaign “threatens to subvert the most basic precept of our system of government.”
Johnson issued a statement noting that the court did not rule on the substantive question in the case, instead dismissing the suit based on a technicality regarding standing:
“The Obama administration violated its own signature health care law by giving special treatment to members of Congress and their staffs. I believe that this executive action by the Obama administration is unlawful and unfair, and that it is only one of many examples of this president’s abuse of his constitutional duty. Unfortunately, those actions will go unchallenged for now, because the district court granted the administration’s motion to dismiss based on the legal technicality of standing.”
Johnson has not yet announced his next move, if any.
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