Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Appellants file their reply brief in N.J. Physicians v. President

The plaintiff-appellants have filed their reply brief in New Jersey Physicians v. President of the United States, the case currently before the Third Circuit. You might recall that the District Court ruled in favor of the United States on extremely narrow, factbound grounds: that the plaintiffs had failed to allege specific facts sufficient to demonstrate a current or imminent injury-in-fact, and thus lacked standing. (Underscoring the narrowness of the holding, the court contrasted the plaintiffs' complaint with those in other cases in which the plaintiffs had alleged that they were currently having to save additional funds and forgo current purchases to afford minimally adequate health coverage in January 2014.) In other words, very little seems to be at stake in this case at this point (evidenced by the Solicitor General's decision not to write the DOJ's brief), though that could change once the standing issue is resolved. By then, though, the Supreme Court is likely to have resolved the matter by deciding one of the other cases.

You can find the reply brief here.