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PENSACOLA, FL – Florida Judge Roger Vinson has granted a stay to his Jan. 31 ruling that called for halting the Affordable Care Act, pending an “anticipated” appeal within seven days from President Barack Obama's administration.
Vinson, a senior district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, filed the stay on March 3, but also mandated that the government seek an expedited appellate review, either in the Court of Appeals or with the Supreme Court.
Vinson’s Jan. 31 ruling called the individual mandate provision of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, and as a result ruled the entire act void. He was asked to clarify his ruling. His order granted that motion, saying he would “attempt to synopsize the 78-page order and clarify its intended effect.”
[See also: Florida judge rules against the Affordable Care Act]
In one of Vinson's key reasons behind granting the stay, he wrote: “As both sides have repeatedly emphasized throughout this case, the act seeks to comprehensively reform and regulate more than one-sixth of the national economy. It does so via several hundred statutory provisions and thousands of regulations that put myriad obligations and responsibilities on individuals, employers and the states. It has generated considerable uncertainty while the Constitutionality of the act is being litigated in the courts. The sooner this issue is finally decided by the Supreme Court, the better off the entire nation will be. And yet, it has been more than one month from the entry of my order and judgment and still the defendants have not filed their notice of appeal.”
[See also: Federal district judge rules in favor of healthcare reform]
Tracy Schmaler, deputy director of the Office of Public Affairs, released the following statement in reply to Vinson’s stay: “We appreciate the court’s recognition of the enormous disruption that would have resulted if implementation of the Affordable Care Act was abruptly halted. We welcome the court’s granting of a stay to allow the current programs and consumer protections, including tax credits to small business and millions of dollars in federal grants to help states with healthcare costs, to continue pending our appeal in the 11th Circuit."
“We strongly disagree with the district court’s underlying ruling in this case and continue to believe – as three federal courts have found – that this law is constitutional," the statement said. "There is clear and well-established legal precedent that Congress acted within its Constitutional authority in passing the Affordable Care Act and we are confident that we will ultimately prevail on appeal.”
