Bob CollinsYou have to love the Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia for its practicality in today’s decision that upholds the health care law pushed by President Barack Obama.
Before writing its opinion (available here), the justices acknowledged that what they think isn’t going to matter much, anyway, since it’s going to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Since so much has already been written by our sister circuits about the issues presented by this case-which will almost surely be decided by the Supreme Court-we shall be sparing in adding to the production of paper.
The opinion and dissent then went on for 103 more pages.
That’s 51 more pages than the 4th District Court of Appeals decision in September tossing out a challenge to the suit, 43 of which were spent listing the names of people, states, and organizations that had submitted briefs in that case. (See opinion)
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (Cincinnati) took only 64 pages to uphold the law in June (opinion here).
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (Florida) declared the law unconstitutional in August and it is so far the granddaddy of opinions at 305 pages (Opinion here) .
Kaiser Health News is tracking all of the various appeals of the law here.
