Court to DOJ: No More Stalling on Obamacare Lawsuit

Robert Alt / March 12, 2011

Late yesterday, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals handed the Obama DOJ yet another defeat in the Obamacare litigation—this time related to how quickly the appeal will proceed.  Readers of this blog know that the Obama DOJ has been attempting to slow walk its appeal of Judge Vinson’s ruling.  Judge Vinson stayed his decision striking down the whole of Obamacare, but only if the DOJ filed for expedited review in the 11th Circuit.  The DOJ did file for expedited review on Wednesday, but as Todd Gaziano noted at the time, “the Administration’s motion to expedite the appellate briefing requests a timeline that is still too slow,” and the motion also claimed that if opposing counsel appealed any of the claims they lost below, then the Justice Department would need more time for briefing.

How slow was the proposed briefing schedule?  As the lawyers for the states and the NFIB noted in their response, the DOJ’s “proposed briefing schedule is identical to the ordinary, non-expedited briefing periods” set forth in the federal rules.  So much for expedition. (more…)