120 Congressmen and 100,000 Americans Join ACLJ to Stop ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate

"We're urging the high court to declare the entire health care law invalid, since the unconstitutional individual mandate cannot be severed from ObamaCare," said Jay Sekulow, ACLJ Chief Counsel

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2012—The individual mandate - a key provision of ObamaCare - invalidates the entire health care law, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) told the Supreme Court today on behalf of nearly 120 members of Congress and more than 100,000 Americans. Because the mandate cannot be severed from the health care law, the ACLJ is urging the high court to declare the whole law unconstitutional.

"It is clear that ObamaCare was never designed to and cannot operate without the individual mandate, a key unconstitutional provision that forces Americans to purchase health insurance under penalty of law," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ. "We're urging the high court to declare the entire health care law invalid, since the unconstitutional individual mandate cannot be severed from ObamaCare."

In a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court today, the ACLJ supported the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling that ObamaCare’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, but noted that the court erred when it failed to declare the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) invalid since the two cannot be separated.

"The fact is the unconstitutional individual mandate is the essential element of the health care law, and the balance of ObamaCare cannot function independently without it. You can't have one without the other," said Sekluow.

Nearly 30 percent of the U.S. House has and more than 100,000 Americans joined the ACLJ in urging the Supreme Court to declare the health care law unconstitutional. The ACLJ represents 117 members of Congress, led by Dr. Paul Broun (R-GA) and including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

The ACLJ also has appealed an ObamaCare-related decision by a federal appeals court, asking the Supreme Court to consider the appeal separately or hold it until the health care cases now before it are decided.

Additional briefs to be filed by the ACLJ with the high court will target other problematic legal issues involving ObamaCare. The ACLJ will argue that the Anti-Injunction Act, which prohibits a lawsuit from stopping a tax before it has been imposed, does not apply to the health care law. The ACLJ also plans to address why the individual mandate is unconstitutional.

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington.

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