ACLJ Urges Supreme Court to Declare Anti-Injunction Act Does Not Apply to ObamaCare

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Center for Law and Justice, focusing on constitutional law, today filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court urging the Justices to declare that the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA) does not apply to ObamaCare. The ACLJ contends the AIA, which prohibits courts from preventing the federal government from assessing or collecting a tax that it claims is due, is not applicable to the Affordable Care Act.

"The AIA does not apply to the health care law," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. "The AIA applies to truly revenue-raising tax statutes, which the individual mandate and its penalty are not. We urge the high court to conclude that the AIA does not apply to ObamaCare and request the Justices find the entire health care law - including the individual mandate - unconstitutional."

In its amicus brief filed today on the AIA issue, the ACLJ argues:

"The Anti-Injunction Act ("AIA") applies to truly revenue-raising tax statutes. The individual mandate and its penalty are not truly revenue-raising tax provisions. The purchase of health insurance, as required by the individual mandate, does not provide revenue to the Federal Government, as the insurance is not purchased directly from the Federal Government."

"The penalty provision also is not a tax, but, instead, is a regulatory penalty designed to compel American citizens to purchase health insurance from private companies. Because the individual mandate and penalty are not taxes, the AIA does not bar this Court from reaching the merits of Respondents' claims."

Just last week, the ACLJ filed an amicus brief on behalf of 119 members of Congress and nearly 145,000 Americans urging the high court to uphold a federal appeals court decision declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional. And, in January, the ACLJ urged the high court, in an amicus brief representing 117 members of the House and more than 103,000 Americans, to declare that the individual mandate cannot be severed from the health care law itself, and that the entire law should be declared unconstitutional.

At the same time, the ACLJ is pursuing its own legal challenge against ObamaCare and has appealed a decision by a federal appeals court to the Supreme Court, asking the high court to consider the appeal separately or hold it until the health care cases now before it are decided.

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C. The ACLJ is online at www.aclj.org.

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SOURCE American Center for Law and Justice