Tuesday, September 13, 2011

An updated scorecard

For those who like counting things:

A. Courts of Appeals

* Courts upholding the mandate: one (the Sixth Circuit, by a vote of 2-1).

* Courts invalidating the mandate: one (the Eleventh Circuit, by a vote of 2-1).

(One could also count a vote, or even two, in the Fourth Circuit's Liberty University decision as upholding the mandate--but that might be cheating.)

B. District Courts

* Courts upholding the mandate: three or four (the Eastern District of Michigan, the Western District of Virginia, the District for the District of Columbia, and the Northern District of Ohio, following the circuit precedent of Thomas More Law Center).

* Courts invalidating the mandate: three (the Eastern District of Virginia, the Northern District of Florida, and the Middle District of Pennsylvania).

These are the decisions that have reached the question of whether the minimum coverage provision is constitutional on the merits. Several other decisions have dismissed challenges on jurisdictional grounds.