The American Center for Law and Justice has gone to court to try to block implementation of the new Affordable Care Act – the legislative package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The ACLJ filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on behalf of five taxpayers.
The ACLJ has alleged on behalf of the taxpayers that the health insurance ownership requirements in PPACA violate the U.S. Constitution.
A PPACA section imposing "shared responsibility payments" on affected individuals who fail to buy and maintain qualifying health insurance "exceeds the power of Congress" and is "unconstitutional and cannot be enforced," the ACLJ says in the complaint. "Congress has never before required individuals to involuntarily buy a good or service under the guise of its Commerce Clause authority."
If the court lets PPACA stand, Congress could require individuals to buy many other goods and services, the ACLJ says.
PPACA contains individual health insurance mandate provisions concerning individuals who object to owning health insurance. But the ACLJ says PPACA still violates several of the taxpayer plaintiffs' religious rights by making them buy health insurance that contradicts the tenets of their faith or pay substantial penalties.
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