Fourth Circuit Finds that Virginia Lacks Standing to Challenge ACA

In the latest scrimmage between states and the federal government on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Commonwealth of Virginia lacked standing to challenge the constitutionality of the ACA’s individual mandate. Virginia brought suit against Kathleen Sebelius and the Department of Health & Human Services, challenging the individual mandate as unconstitutional and basing its standing on a conflict between the mandate and a new statute in Virginia, the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act. But the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Virginia lacked standing to challenge the mandate since the ACA’s mandate did not threaten the enforceability of the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act, especially where Virginia’s law simply tried to immunize Virginia citizens from the ACA individual mandate. Read the full opinion here.

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