Overview
M. Miller Baker explained why the full DC Circuit decided to rehear a panel’s decision striking down the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits. The decision created a split with the Fourth Circuit, which Mr. Baker said “is not a guarantee that there will be a rehearing en banc, but it’s one of those reasons why a court would want to … consider whether it wants to be in conflict with another circuit.” Mr. Baker also cited the case’s importance and the “differences in approaches to statutory interpretation that are relevant” to Republican and Democratic court appointees, because “several judges on the [full] court were sympathetic to the [Halbig] dissent.”