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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

PENSACOLA DIVISION

STATE OF FLORIDA, by and through

Attorney General Pam Bondi, et al.;

Plaintiffs,

v. Case No.: 3:10-cv-91-RV/EMT

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, et al.,

Defendants.

____________________________________/

ORDER

My order of January 31, 2011 (“Order”), granted summary judgment for the

plaintiffs (in part); held the “individual mandate” provision of The Patient Protection

and Affordable Care Act (the “Act”) unconstitutional; and declared the remainder of

the Act void because it was not severable. The defendants have now filed a motion

to “clarify” this ruling (doc. 156) (“Def. Mot.”). During the four-plus weeks since

entry of my order, the defendants have seemingly continued to move forward and

implement the Act. In their response in opposition to the defendants’ motion, the

plaintiffs have asserted that “[i]f the Government was not prepared to comply with

the Court’s judgment, the proper and respectful course would have been to seek an

immediate stay, not an untimely and unorthodox motion to clarify” (doc. 158 at 2)

(“Pl. Resp.”).

While I believe that my order was as clear and unambiguous as it could be, it

is possible that the defendants may have perhaps been confused or misunderstood

its import. Accordingly, I will attempt to synopsize the 78-page order and clarify its

intended effect. To that extent, the defendants’ motion to clarify is GRANTED.

I. Clarification

Let me begin the clarification by emphasizing, once again, what this case is

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all about. The plaintiffs filed this case to challenge the Constitutionality of the Act.

The complaint raised several causes of action, but the crux of the case centered on

the Constitutionality of the individual mandate, which, beginning in 2014, will

require everyone (with certain stated exceptions) to buy federally-approved health

insurance or pay a monetary “penalty.” Like every single district court to consider

this issue so far --- including those that have ruled for the federal government --- I

rejected the defendants’ argument that the penalty should be construed as a tax

barred by the Anti-Injunction Act. Instead, I concluded that it was a civil regulatory

penalty which could not be based on the federal government’s broad taxing power.

The issue was thus narrowed to whether the individual mandate fell within, or went

beyond, Congress’s Constitutional authority “To regulate Commerce . . . among the

several States.” U.S. Const. art I, § 8, cl. 3. 

In granting summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs on that question, I

traced the historical roots of the Commerce Clause and the evolution of its judicial

interpretation. I noted that the word “commerce” had a well-understood meaning

when the Founding Fathers drafted our Constitution and when “We the People”

later adopted it. I analyzed and discussed (in detail) every significant and pertinent

Commerce Clause case decided by the Supreme Court, including the primary cases

relied on by the defendants: Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111, 63 S. Ct. 82, 87 L.

Ed. 122 (1942); and Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1, 125 S. Ct. 2195, 162 L. Ed.

2d 1 (2005). I concluded, however, that those (and other) cases neither supported

the defendants’ position nor directly resolved the Constitutional question at issue.

Indeed, as Congress’s own attorneys (in the Congressional Research Service) have

explained:

While in Wickard and Raich, the individuals were

participating in their own home activities (i.e., producing

wheat for home consumption and cultivating marijuana

for personal use), they were acting of their own volition,

and this activity was determined to be economic in nature

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and affected interstate commerce. However, [the

individual mandate] could be imposed on some individuals

who engage in virtually no economic activity whatsoever.

This is a novel issue: whether Congress can use its

Commerce Clause authority to require a person to buy a

good or a service and whether this type of required

participation can be considered economic activity.

Congressional Research Service, Requiring Individuals to Obtain Health Insurance: A

Constitutional Analysis, July 24, 2009, at 6 (“CRS Analysis”) (emphasis added).1

I recognized in my order that “novel” and unprecedented did not, by itself,

mean “unconstitutional,” so I then proceeded to address the defendants’ several

arguments in support of the individual mandate. Following the Supreme Court’s

precedent in United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 115 S. Ct. 1624, 131 L. Ed.

2d 626 (1995), I “pause[d] to consider the implications of the Government’s

arguments” by discussing possible hypothetical extensions of the logic underlying

them. See id. at 564-65. For example, in Lopez, the Court also used hypothetical

examples to illustrate other areas that “Congress could regulate” and activities that

“Congress could mandate” in the future under the federal government’s logic, and

concluded that, under such reasoning, it would be hard “to posit any activity by an

individual that Congress is without power to regulate.” See id. I similarly concluded

that the government’s arguments in this case --- including the “economic decisions”

1

 Even the district courts that have upheld the individual mandate seem to

agree that “activity” is indeed required before Congress can exercise its authority

under the Commerce Clause. They have simply determined that an individual’s

decision not to buy health insurance qualifies as activity. For example, in the most

recent case, Mead v. Holder, --- F. Supp. 2d ---, 2011 WL 611139 (D.C.C. Feb. 22,

2011), the District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that “[m]aking a

choice is an affirmative action, whether one decides to do something or not do

something,” and, therefore, Congress can regulate “mental activity” under the

commerce power. See id. at *18 (emphasis added). As that court acknowledged,

however, there is “little judicial guidance” from the Supreme Court with respect to

this issue as “previous Commerce Clause cases have all involved physical activity.“

Id.

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argument --- could authorize Congress to regulate almost any activity (or inactivity).

This could not be reconciled with a federal government of limited and enumerated

powers. I thus concluded that the meaning of the term “commerce” as understood

by the Founding Fathers would not have encompassed the individual mandate, not

because of some vague “original intent,” but because it would have violated the

fundamental and foundational principles upon which the Constitution was based: a

federal government with limited enumerated powers which can only exercise those

specific powers granted to it. 

Similarly, I determined (consistent with the Lopez majority’s rejection of the

dissent’s arguments) that “market uniqueness” is not an adequate limiting principle

as the same basic arguments in support of the individual mandate could be applied

in other contexts outside the “unique” health care market, and could be used to

require that individuals buy (under threat of penalty) virtually any good or service

that Congress has a “rational basis” to conclude would help the national economy,

from cars to broccoli.2

 I thus held that the individual mandate exceeded Congress’s

2

 Although some have suggested that the possibility of Congress being able

to claim such a power is Constitutionally implausible, subsequent events have only

reinforced the legitimacy of this concern. On February 2, 2011, two days after my

order was entered, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to explore the

Constitutionality of the individual mandate. The possibility of a “broccoli mandate”

was discussed at this hearing. Former Solicitor General and Harvard law professor

Charles Fried testified (during the course of defending the Constitutionality of the

individual mandate) that under this view of the commerce power Congress could,

indeed, mandate that everyone buy broccoli. See Transcript of Senate Judiciary

Committee Hearing: Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (Feb. 2, 2011);

see also Written Testimony of Charles Fried, Beneficial Professor of Law, Harvard

Law School, Before the Senate Judiciary Committee on “The Constitutionality of

the Affordable Care Act” (Feb. 2, 2011), at 4. This testimony only highlights my

concern because it directly undercuts the defendants’ principal argument for why

an economic mandate is justified here; to wit, that it is justified in this case (and

only this case) because the broad health care market is “unique” and because the

failure to buy health insurance constitutes an “economic financing decision” about

how to pay for an unavoidable service that hospital emergency rooms (unlike sellers

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authority under the Commerce Clause (at least as understood, defined, and applied

in existing case law). Such an unprecedented and potentially radical expansion of

Congress’s commerce power could only be authorized in the first instance by the

Supreme Court, or possibly by a Constitutional amendment. It is not for a lower

court to expand upon Supreme Court jurisprudence, and in the process authorize

the exercise of a “highly attractive power” that Congress has never before claimed

in the history of the country [see generally Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898,

905-18, 117 S. Ct. 2365, 138 L. Ed. 2d 914 (1997)], and which Congress’s very

own attorneys have warned “could be perceived as virtually unlimited in scope.”

See CRS Analysis, supra, at 7. After concluding that the individual mandate could

not be supported by existing Commerce Clause precedent --- nor under Necessary

and Proper Clause case law, including the recent doctrinal analysis articulated in

United States v. Comstock, --- U.S. ---, 130 S. Ct. 1949, 176 L. Ed. 2d 878 (2010)

--- I then considered the question of severability.

In deciding the severability issue, I began by recognizing and acknowledging

that, if at all possible, courts will usually only strike down the unconstitutional part

of a statute and leave the rest intact. However, I noted that this was not the usual

of produce and other commodities) are required under law to provide regardless of

ability to pay. As noted, to the extent that one may respond to this hypothetical

concern by suggesting that “political accountability” would prevent Congress from

ever imposing a “broccoli mandate” (even though it could), the Supreme Court has

specifically rejected that as the appropriate test for “the limitation of congressional

authority is not solely a matter of legislative grace.” See United States v. Morrison,

529 U.S. 598, 616, 120 S. Ct. 1740, 146 L. Ed. 2d 658 (2000); see also id. at

616 n.7 (explaining that Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause is not

“limited only by public opinion and the Legislature’s self-restraint,” and thereby

rejecting the claim that “political accountability is . . . the only limit on Congress'

exercise of the commerce power”); cf. United States v. Stevens, --- U.S. ---, 130 S.

Ct. 1577, 1591, 176 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2010) (“[T]he [Constitution] protects against

the Government; it does not leave us at the mercy of noblesse oblige. We would

not uphold an unconstitutional statute merely because the Government promised to

use it responsibly.”). 

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case, and that its unique facts required a finding of non-severability. In particular, I

noted that:

(i) At the time the Act was passed, Congress knew for certain that legal

challenges to the individual mandate were coming;

(ii) Congress’s own Research Service had essentially advised that the legal

challenges would have merit (and therefore might result in the individual mandate

being struck down) as it could not be said that the individual mandate had “solid

constitutional foundation” [CRS Analysis, supra, at 3];

(iii) And yet, Congress specifically (and presumably intentionally) deleted the

“severability clause” that had been included in the earlier version of the Act.

I concluded that, in light of the foregoing facts, the conspicuous absence of

a severability clause --- which is ordinarily included in complex legislation as a

matter of routine --- could be viewed as strong evidence that Congress recognized

that the Act could not operate as intended if the individual mandate was eventually

struck down by the courts.

I also found that the defendants’ own arguments in defense of the individual

mandate on Necessary and Proper grounds necessarily undermined its argument for

severability. I noted, for example, that during this case the defendants consistently

and repeatedly highlighted the “essential” role that the individual mandate played in

the regulatory reform of the interstate health care and health insurance markets,

which was the entire point of the Act. As the defendants themselves made clear:

[The individual mandate] is essential to the Act’s

comprehensive scheme to ensure that health insurance

coverage is available and affordable [and it “works in

tandem” with the health benefit exchanges, employer

incentives, tax credits, and the Medicaid expansion].

* * *

[The absence of an individual mandate] would undermine

the “comprehensive regulatory regime” in the Act.

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* * *

[The individual mandate] is essential to Congress’s overall

regulatory reform of the interstate health care and health

insurance markets . . . [it] is “essential” to achieving key

reforms of the interstate health insurance market . . .

[and it is] necessary to make the other regulations in the

Act effective.

Memorandum in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (doc. 56-1), at 46-48

(emphasis added). Therefore, according to the defendants’ own arguments, the

individual mandate and the insurance reform provisions must rise or fall together.3

In the course of applying the two-part severability analysis, I noted that the

Supreme Court has stressed that the “relevant inquiry in evaluating severability is

whether the statute [with the unconstitutional provision removed] will function in a

manner consistent with the intent of Congress.” See Alaska Airlines, Inc. v. Brock,

480 U.S. 678, 685, 107 S. Ct. 1476, 94 L. Ed. 2d 661 (1987). In light of the

defendants’ own arguments as quoted above and dozens of similar representations

that they made throughout this case, I had no choice but to find that the individual

mandate was essential to, and thus could not be severed from, the rest of the Act.

I further noted that, because the Act was extremely lengthy and many of its

provisions were dependent (directly or indirectly) on the individual mandate, it was

improper for me (a judge) to engage in the quasi-legislative undertaking of deciding

which of the Act’s several hundred provisions could theoretically survive without

the individual mandate (as a technical or practical matter) and which could not --- or

which provisions Congress could have arguably wanted to survive. To demonstrate

3

 As explained in my order, the mere fact that the individual mandate was

“necessary” to the Act as drafted does not mean it was Constitutionally “proper.”

See, e.g., Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898, 923-24, 117 S. Ct. 2365, 138 L.

Ed. 2d 914 (1997) (“When a ‘Law for carrying into Execution’ the Commerce

Clause violates [other Constitutional principles], it is not a ‘Law proper for carrying

into Execution the Commerce Clause’”) (emphasis in original) (ellipses omitted). 

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this problem, I discussed the Act’s much-maligned Internal Revenue Service Form

1099 reporting requirement, which was an apparent revenue-generating provision

with no connection to health care:

How could I possibly determine if Congress intended the

1099 reporting provision to stand independently of the

insurance reform provisions? Should the fact that it has

been widely criticized by both Congressional supporters

and opponents of the Act and the fact that there have

been bipartisan efforts to repeal it factor at all into my

determination?

Order at 73. In fact, on February 2, 2011, two days after entry of my order, the

Senate voted (with bipartisan support) to repeal the Form 1099 provision (and the

House is expected to follow with a similar vote in upcoming weeks). This is exactly

how the process should be, as it highlights that it is Congress --- and not courts ---

that should consider and decide the quintessentially legislative questions of which,

if any, of the statute’s hundreds of provisions should stay and which should go.

Because of these atypical and unusual circumstances (e.g., the deletion of a

severability clause in the face of inevitable and well-founded legal challenges; the

defendants’ repeated acknowledgment in this case that the individual mandate was

the keystone or lynchpin of the statute’s overall purpose; and the obvious difficulty

(if not impropriety) of reconfiguring an extremely lengthy and comprehensive

statute with so many interconnected provisions), I concluded that these facts were

not likely to be present in future litigation, and that the “normal rule” of severability

--- which would still apply in the vast majority of cases --- was not applicable here.

Compare, for example, the unusual facts of this case with a case where the

“normal rule” has been applied. In New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144, 157,

112 S. Ct. 2408, 120 L. Ed. 2d 120 (1992), the Supreme Court was called upon

to consider the Constitutionality of the Low–Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act,

which, in an effort to address a looming shortage of disposal sites of low level

radioactive waste, set forth three “incentives” to states that provided for disposal

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of waste generated within their borders. The Supreme Court held that the first two

incentives were Constitutional, but the third --- the take title provision --- was not.

In holding that provision could be severed from the statute, the Court explained:

Common sense suggests that where Congress has

enacted a statutory scheme for an obvious purpose, and

where Congress has included a series of provisions

operating as incentives to achieve that purpose, the

invalidation of one of the incentives should not ordinarily

cause Congress' overall intent to be frustrated. . . . [The

one incentive] may fail, and still the great body of the

statute have operative force, and the force contemplated

by the legislature in its enactment . . . .

[T]he take title provision may be severed without doing

violence to the rest of the Act. The Act is still operative

and it still serves Congress' objective of encouraging the

States to attain local or regional self-sufficiency in the

disposal of low level radioactive waste. It still includes

two incentives that coax the States along this road. . . .

The purpose of the Act is not defeated by the invalidation

of the take title provision, so we may leave the remainder

of the Act in force.

Id. at 186-67 (emphasis added). Plainly, the “normal case” is very different from

the one presented here, where the federal government has repeatedly made clear

that the primary and overall purpose (albeit not necessarily every single provision)

of the Act would be directly and irretrievably compromised by the removal of the

central feature that Congress described as “essential” in the words of the Act

itself. See Act § 1501(a)(2)(I).4

 

4

 For example, during the summary judgment hearing and oral argument, the

defendants’ attorney stressed that the individual mandate is absolutely necessary

to the health insurance reforms as those reforms “literally can’t work without” the

individual mandate [see Tr. 83]. As noted, this was very significant because the

insurance reform provisions were not a small or inconsequential part of the Act. In

fact, they were its primary purpose and main objective --- as clearly demonstrated,

inter alia, by the title of the Act itself and the fact that its proponents frequently

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After determining that the individual mandate was unconstitutional and that

it could not be severed from the remainder of the Act --- and thus “the entire Act

must be declared void” --- I finally considered the plaintiffs’ request for injunctive

relief. I explained that the “extraordinary” and “drastic” remedy of an injunction is

not typically required against the federal government because:

. . . there is a long-standing presumption “that officials of

the Executive Branch will adhere to the law as declared

by the court. As a result, the declaratory judgment is the

functional equivalent of an injunction.” See Comm. on

Judiciary of U.S. House of Representatives v. Miers, 542

F.3d 909, 911 (D.C. Cir. 2008); accord Sanchez-Espinoza

v. Reagan, 770 F.2d 202, 208 n.8 (D.C. Cir. 1985)

(“declaratory judgment is, in a context such as this where

federal officers are defendants, the practical equivalent of

specific relief such as an injunction . . . since it must be

presumed that federal officers will adhere to the law as

declared by the court”) (Scalia, J.) (emphasis added).

There is no reason to conclude that this presumption

should not apply here. Thus, the award of declaratory

relief is adequate and separate injunctive relief is not

necessary.

Order at 75. The above language seems to be plain and unambiguous. Even though

I expressly declared that the entire Act was “void,” and even though I emphasized

that “separate injunctive relief is not necessary” only because it must be presumed

that “the Executive Branch will adhere to the law as declared by the court,” which

means that “declaratory judgment is the functional equivalent of an injunction,” the

defendants have indicated that they “do not interpret the Court’s order as requiring

referred to the legislative efforts as “health insurance reform.” It is, quite frankly,

difficult to comprehend how severing and removing the “health insurance reform

provisions” from “health insurance reform legislation” could even arguably leave a

statute that would “function in a manner consistent with the intent of Congress.”

See Alaska Airlines, Inc. v. Brock, 480 U.S. 678, 685, 107 S. Ct. 1476, 94 L. Ed.

2d 661 (1987)

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them to immediately cease [implementing and enforcing the Act].” See Def. Mot. at

4; see also id. at 6 (“we do not understand the Court’s declaratory judgment of its

own force to relieve the parties to this case of any obligations or deny them any

rights under the Act”). They have reportedly continued with full implementation of

the Act. They claim that they have done so based on certain language in (and legal

analyses left out of) my order, which they believe suggests that the ruling “does

not in itself automatically and in self-executing manner relieve the parties of their

obligations or rights under the [Act] while appellate review is pending.” See id.

The defendants have suggested, for example, that my order and judgment

could not have been intended to have the full force of an injunction because, if I

had so intended, I would have been “required to apply the familiar four-factor test”

to determine if injunctive relief was appropriate. See Def. Mot. at 14. That wellsettled four-factor test requires the party seeking an injunction to demonstrate:

(1) that it has suffered an irreparable injury; (2) that

remedies available at law, such as monetary damages,

are inadequate to compensate for that injury; (3) that,

considering the balance of hardships between the plaintiff

and defendant, a remedy in equity is warranted; and (4)

that the public interest would not be disserved by a

permanent injunction.

eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, LLC, 547 U.S. 388, 391, 126 S. Ct. 1837, 164 L. Ed.

2d 641 (2006). I did not undertake this four-factor analysis for a simple reason: it

was not necessary. Even though the defendants had technically disputed that the

plaintiffs could satisfy those four factors, the defendants had acknowledged in their

summary judgment opposition brief that, if I were to find for the plaintiffs, separate

injunctive relief would be superfluous and unnecessary. The defendants expressly

assured the court that, in light of the “long-standing presumption that a declaratory

judgment provides adequate relief as against an executive officer, as it will not be

presumed that that officer will ignore the judgment of the Court,” any declaratory

judgment in the plaintiffs’ favor “would [ ] be adequate to vindicate [the plaintiffs’]

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claims.” Defendants’ Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary

Judgment (doc. 137), at 43. Consequently, there was no need to discuss and apply

the four-factor test to determine if injunctive relief was appropriate because the

defendants had confirmed that they would “not . . . ignore the judgment of the

Court” and that my “declaratory judgment would [ ] be adequate.” In other words,

the defendants are now claiming that it is somehow confusing that I bypassed the

four-factor test and applied the “long-standing presumption” that they themselves

had identified and specifically insisted that they would honor.

I am aware that in their opposition brief the defendants attempted to qualify

and limit the “long-standing presumption” --- and avoid the declaratory judgment’s

immediate injunction-like effect --- by intimating that it should apply “after appellate

review is exhausted.” See id. There were several problems with this claim (which is

why I rejected it sub silentio). First of all, the case the defendants cited in making

their qualifying statement [Miers, supra, 542 F.3d at 911] does not at all support

the position that a district court’s declaratory judgment will only be presumed to

have injunctive effect against federal officials “after appellate review is exhausted.”

Quite to the contrary, in that case the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia

determined that the presumption attached immediately and thus the district court’s

declaratory judgment had immediate injunction-like effect (which is why the order

under review was “immediately appealable” in the first instance). See id. at 910-

11. Accordingly, while the defendants may have tried to qualify the long-standing

presumption and limit it to post-appeal, I was (and still am) unpersuaded that the

presumption can (or should) be limited in such fashion. Indeed, I note that the

federal government previously advanced the exact same “after appellate review is

exhausted” argument (almost word-for-word) in one of the Virginia cases [see doc.

96, in 3:10-cv-188, at 34-35], where it appears to have been rejected sub silentio

as well. See Virginia v. Sebelius, 728 F. Supp. 2d 768, 790 (E.D. Va. 2010)

(declaring individual mandate unconstitutional, but declining to issue injunction

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because, in light of the long-standing presumption against enjoining federal officers,

“the award of declaratory judgment is sufficient to stay the hand of the Executive

branch pending appellate review”) (emphasis added). 

Furthermore, as the plaintiffs have correctly pointed out [see Pl. Resp. at 3-

6], to suggest that a declaratory judgment will only be effective and binding on the

parties after the appeals process has fully run its course is manifestly incorrect and

inconsistent with well established statutory and case law. A declaratory judgment

establishes and declares “the rights and other legal relations” between the parties

before the court and has “the force and effect of a final judgment.” See 28 U.S.C.

§ 2201(a). “A declaratory judgment cannot be enforced by contempt proceedings,

but it has the same effect as an injunction in fixing the parties’ legal entitlements

. . . . A litigant who tries to evade a federal court’s judgment --- and a declaratory

judgment is a real judgment, not just a bit of friendly advice --- will come to regret

it.” Badger Catholic, Inc. v. Walsh, 620 F.3d 775, 782 (7th Cir. 2010). If it were

otherwise, a federal court’s declaratory judgment would serve “no useful purpose

as a final determination of rights.” See Public Service Comm’n of Utah, v. Wycoff

Co., Inc., 344 U.S. 237, 247, 73 S. Ct. 236, 97 L. Ed. 2d 291 (1952). For the

defendants to suggest that they were entitled (or that in the weeks after my order

was issued they thought they might be entitled) to basically ignore my declaratory

judgment until “after appellate review is exhausted” is unsupported in the law.5

5

 The defendants have claimed that “[i]n other declaratory judgment cases,

pending appellate review, ‘the Government has been free to continue to apply [a]

statute’ following entry of a declaratory judgment.” See Def. Mot. at 4-5 (citing

Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144, 83 S. Ct. 554, 9 L. Ed. 2d 644

(1963); Carreno v. Johnson, 899 F. Supp. 624 (S. D. Fla. 1995)). Quoting from

Mendoza-Martinez, the defendants further claim that “‘a single federal judge’” is

not authorized to “‘paralyze totally the operation of an entire regulatory scheme,

either state or federal, by issuance of a broad injunctive order’ prior to appellate

review.” See id. at 5. The two cited cases are plainly inapposite for the reasons

identified by the plaintiffs. See Pl. Resp. at 4-5. Mendoza-Martinez, for example,

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So to “clarify” my order and judgment: The individual mandate was declared

unconstitutional. Because that “essential” provision was unseverable from the rest

of the Act, the entire legislation was void. This declaratory judgment was expected

to be treated as the “practical” and “functional equivalent of an injunction” with

respect to the parties to the litigation. This expectation was based on the “longstanding presumption” that the defendants themselves identified and agreed to be

bound by, which provides that a declaratory judgment against federal officials is a

de facto injunction. To the extent that the defendants were unable (or believed that

they were unable) to comply, it was expected that they would immediately seek a

stay of the ruling, and at that point in time present their arguments for why such a

stay is necessary, which is the usual and standard procedure. It was not expected

that they would effectively ignore the order and declaratory judgment for two and

one-half weeks, continue to implement the Act, and only then file a belated motion

to “clarify.”6

The plaintiffs have contended that the defendants did not actually need any

of the above clarification as they were not really confused by, or unsure of, the

effect of my order and judgment. They have suggested that if the defendants had

applied a statute that precluded single-judge district courts from enjoining an Act of

Congress; but that statute was repealed by Congress thirty-five years ago, in 1976.

The defendants’ selective quoting from those cases --- to suggest that the federal

government may simply ignore a declaratory judgment by a district court until the

appeals process has fully run its course --- borders on misrepresentation.

6

 The defendants have suggested in reply to the plaintiffs’ response that the

reason for the delay was due to the fact that my order “required careful analysis,”

and it was only after this “careful review” that the defendants could determine its

“potential impact” with respect to implementation of the Act (see doc. 164 at 11).

This seems contrary to media reports that the White House declared within hours

after entry of my order that “implementation will proceed apace” regardless of the

ruling. See, e.g., N.C. Aizenman and Amy Goldstein, U.S. Judge in Florida Rejects

Health Law, Washington Post, Feb. 1, 2011, at A01 (quoting a senior White House

official). 

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truly believed there was any uncertainty or ambiguity, they would have immediately

sought clarification rather than continuing to move forward with implementing the

Act as if nothing had happened. The plaintiffs have asserted that the defendants’

motion to clarify is, “in fact, a transparent attempt, through the guise of seeking

clarification, to obtain a stay pending appeal.” See Pl. Resp. at 2. At certain parts

in the pleading, the defendants’ motion does seem to be more of a motion to stay

than a motion to clarify. Because the defendants have stated that they intend to

file a subsequent motion to stay [Def. Mot. at 15] if I were to “clarify” that I had

intended my declaratory judgment to have immediate injunction-like effect (which I

just did), I will save time in this time-is-of-the-essence case by treating the motion

to clarify as one requesting a stay as well.

II. Motion to Stay

In deciding whether to grant a stay pending appeal, courts should generally

examine four factors: (1) whether the applicants have made a strong showing that

they are likely to prevail; (2) whether the applicants will be irreparably injured if a

stay is not granted; (3) whether granting the stay will substantially injure the other

parties interested in the proceeding; and (4) “where the public interest lies.” Hilton

v. Braunskill, 481 U.S. 770, 776, 107 S. Ct. 2113, 95 L. Ed. 2d 724 (1987).

For the first factor, I cannot say that the defendants do not have a likelihood

of success on appeal. They do. And so do the plaintiffs. Although I strongly believe

that expanding the commerce power to permit Congress to regulate and mandate

mental decisions not to purchase health insurance (or any other product or service)

would emasculate much of the rest of the Constitution and effectively remove all

limitations on the power of the federal government, I recognize that others believe

otherwise. The individual mandate has raised some novel issues regarding the

Constitutional role of the federal government about which reasonable and intelligent

people (and reasonable and intelligent jurists) can disagree. To be sure, members of

Congress, law professors, and several federal district courts have already reached

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varying conclusions on whether the individual mandate is Constitutional. It is likely

that the Courts of Appeal will also reach divergent results and that, as most courtwatchers predict, the Supreme Court may eventually be split on this issue as well.

Despite what partisans for or against the individual mandate might suggest, this

litigation presents a question with some strong and compelling arguments on both

sides. Ultimately, I ruled the way I did, not only because I believe it was the right

overall result, but because I believe that is the appropriate course for a lower court

to take when presented with a (literally) unprecedented argument whose success

depends on stretching existing Supreme Court precedent well beyond its current

high water mark and further away from the “first principles” that underlie our entire

federalist system. Under these circumstances, I must conclude that the defendants

do have some (sufficient for this test only) likelihood of success on appeal.

I must next consider the injury to the defendants if the stay is not entered,

and the injury to the plaintiffs if it is. The Act, as previously noted, is obviously

very complicated and expansive. It contains about 450 separate provisions with

different time schedules for implementation. Some are currently in effect, while

others, including the individual mandate, are not scheduled to go into effect for

several years. In their motion, the defendants have identified and described the

“significant disruption” and “wide-ranging and indeterminate consequences” that

could result if implementation of the entire Act must stop immediately [see Def.

Mot. at 4, 7-11], and, upon review and consideration of these arguments, I agree

that it would indeed be difficult to enjoin and halt the Act’s implementation while

the case is pending appeal. It would be extremely disruptive and cause significant

uncertainty.

Against this, however, I must balance the potential injury to the plaintiffs if a

stay is entered. Relying on their previous summary judgment filings, the plaintiffs

have argued that the Act is causing them substantial harm now because the state

plaintiffs are being required to expend significant funds and resources in order to

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comply with the Act’s numerous provisions. In this respect, it is apparent that the

plaintiffs will be injured by a stay of my ruling.7 Similarly, businesses, families, and

individuals are having to expend time, money, and effort in order to comply with all

of the Act’s requirements. Further, I do not doubt that --- assuming that my ruling

is eventually affirmed --- the plaintiffs will sustain injury if the Act continues to be

implemented. Reversing what is presently in effect (and what will be put into effect

in the future) may prove enormously difficult. Indeed, one could argue that was the

entire point in front-loading certain of the Act’s provisions in the first place. It could

also be argued that the Executive Branch seeks to continue the implementation, in

part, for the very reason that the implemented provisions will be hard to undo once

they are fully in place. However, after balancing the potential harm to the plaintiffs

against the potential harm to the defendants, I find that, on balance, these two

factors weigh in favor of granting a stay --- particularly in light of several unusual

facts present in this case.

For example, my declaratory judgment, of course, only applies to the parties

to this litigation. The State of Michigan is one of those parties. However, a federal

district court in Michigan has already upheld the Act and the individual mandate.

See Thomas More Law Center v. Obama, 720 F. Supp. 2d 882 (E.D. Mich. 2010).

Can (or should) I enjoin and halt implementation of the Act in a state where one of

its federal courts has held it to be Constitutional? In addition, many of the plaintiff

states have publicly represented that they will immediately halt implementation of

the Act in light of my declaratory judgment, while at least eight plaintiff states (as

identified by the defendants in their motion and reply) have suggested that, in an

abundance of caution, they will not stop implementing the Act pending appeal. In

7

 Although the severity of that injury is undercut by the fact that at least

eight of the plaintiff states (noted further infra) have represented that they will

continue to implement and fully comply with the Act’s requirements --- in an

abundance of caution while this case is on appeal --- irrespective of my ruling. 

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addition to these apparent disagreements among the plaintiff states, there is even

disagreement within the plaintiff states as to whether the implementation should

continue pending appeal. For example, while the plaintiffs (a group that includes

the Attorney General of Washington) have requested that I enjoin the defendants

from implementing the Act, the Governor of Washington has just filed an amicus

brief specifically opposing that request (doc. 163). At this point in time, and in light

of all this uncertainty, it would be difficult to deny the defendants a stay pending

appeal. Nonetheless, in light of the potential for ongoing injury to the plaintiffs, the

stay should be in place for as short of time as possible (months, and not years), as

discussed immediately below.

Finally, for the last factor, I must consider “where the public interest lies.”

Although the defendants’ pleadings present a reasonably persuasive argument for

why the “public interest lies” in having my declaratory judgment and de facto

injunction stayed pending appeal, almost every argument that the defendants have

advanced speaks much more persuasively to why the case should be immediately

appealed and pursued in the most expeditious and accelerated manner allowable.

As both sides have repeatedly emphasized throughout this case, the Act seeks to

comprehensively reform and regulate more than one-sixth of the national economy.

It does so via several hundred statutory provisions and thousands of regulations

that put myriad obligations and responsibilities on individuals, employers, and the

states. It has generated considerable uncertainty while the Constitutionality of the

Act is being litigated in the courts. The sooner this issue is finally decided by the

Supreme Court, the better off the entire nation will be. And yet, it has been more

than one month from the entry of my order and judgment and still the defendants

have not filed their notice of appeal. 

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It should not be at all difficult or challenging to “fast-track” this case.8 The

briefing with respect to the general issues involved are mostly already done, as the

federal government is currently defending several other similar challenges to the

Act that are making their way through the appellate courts. Furthermore, the legal

issues specific to this case have already been fully and very competently briefed.

With a few additional modifications and edits (to comply with the appellate rules),

the parties could probably just change the caption of the case, add colored covers,

and be done with their briefing.

After careful consideration of the factors noted above, and all the arguments

set forth in the defendants’ motion to clarify, I find that the motion, construed as a

motion for stay, should be GRANTED. However, the stay will be conditioned upon

the defendants filing their anticipated appeal within seven (7) calendar days of this

order and seeking an expedited appellate review, either in the Court of Appeals or

with the Supreme Court under Rule 11 of that Court. See, e.g., NML Capital Ltd. v.

Republic of Argentina, 2005 WL 743086, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2005) (district

court granted motion to stay its own ruling, “conditioned on as prompt as possible

appeal and a motion for an expedited appeal”). 

III. Conclusion

As I wrote about two weeks after this litigation was filed: “the citizens of

this country have an interest in having this case resolved as soon as practically

possible” (doc. 18 at 4). That was nearly eleven months ago. In the time since, the

battle lines have been drawn, the relevant case law marshaled, and the legal

arguments refined. Almost everyone agrees that the Constitutionality of the Act is

an issue that will ultimately have to be decided by the Supreme Court of the United

States. It is very important to everyone in this country that this case move forward

8

 I note that two of the pending appeals (in the Fourth and Sixth Circuits) are

apparently proceeding on an expedited basis.

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as soon as practically possible.

Therefore, the defendants’ motion to clarify (doc. 156) is GRANTED, as set

forth above. To the extent that motion is construed as a motion to stay, it is also

GRANTED, and the summary declaratory judgment entered in this case is STAYED

pending appeal, conditioned upon the defendants filing their notice of appeal within

seven (7) calendar days of this order and seeking an expedited appellate review.

DONE and ORDERED this 3rd day of March, 2011.

/s/ Roger Vinson 

ROGER VINSON

Senior United States District Judge

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