Following Supreme Court Ruling, ACLJ Vows to Intensify Efforts to Repeal Obamacare

"The high court missed an important opportunity to rein in a runaway federal government that's determined to interject itself into every aspect of the lives of Americans," said Jay Sekulow, ACLJ chief counsel.

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2012—The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said today that it will continue fighting to repeal Obamacare in spite of an "extremely disappointing" ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court stating that the government health care law is constitutional. The ACLJ had earlier filed an amicus brief on behalf of more than 100 members of Congress and nearly 145,000 Americans in challenging the individual mandate of Obamacare.

"While the court correctly concluded that the mandate violated the Commerce Clause of the constitution, a majority concluded that the individual mandate is a constitutionally acceptable taxing provision for the health care law," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ. "The high court missed an important opportunity to rein in a runaway federal government that’s determined to interject itself into every aspect of the lives of Americans."

The decision of the high court to uphold the mandate as a taxing provision counters President Obama's previous description of the mandate. The president rejected the assertion that the penalty for not purchasing health care insurance should be characterized as a tax. President Obama had refused to frame the health care mandate as a tax during an interview with ABC News in 2009.

"The decision to keep the health care law intact is problematic for our nation and the American people. The government-run, pro-abortion law may have survived constitutional scrutiny, but the focus now turns to November and the election," said Sekulow. "The American people understand that this law is not what our nation needs or deserves. Our efforts will intensify to support a legislative remedy that ultimately will result in the repeal of Obamacare."

The American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington.