ACA lawsuit on hold during government shutdown

An appellate judge has put the lawsuit about the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) constitutionality on hold until the partial government shutdown ends. The appeals process to review a ruling that declared the entire ACA invalid will have to wait until attorneys for the federal government have funding to proceed. Fifth Circuit Court Judge Leslie H. Southwick issued a stay in the case Jan. 11, granting a request filed earlier in the week by the U.S. Department of Justice.

While most of the federal government was funded by earlier legislation, this shutdown affects about 800,000 federal workers and inhibits the work of several agencies that handle health-related tasks. Both the plaintiffs and federal defendants agreed that a stay would be appropriate. But the California-led coalition of Democratic state attorneys general challenging the lower court's decision and the U.S. House of Representatives—which, newly under Democratic control, is seeking to intervene in the case to defend the ACA—opposed the stay request.