Just When He Thought He Was Out, Don Verrilli Gets Pulled Back Into Affordable Care Act Litigation

The Biglaw partner is ready to defend the ACA again.

onJanuary 4, 2019 at 2:34 PMJanuary 4, 2019 at 1:30 PM

Now that Northern District of Texas District Judge Reed O’Connor has made his shit stain on the legal landscape by holding the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional in a widely reviled decision, the left has put together a legal team designed to appeal the decision all the way to the top if they have to.

Since the Justice Department made the controversial decision to drop its defense of the ACA, a team of litigators representing the House of Representatives and a coalition of states have intervened in the case on behalf of the landmark Obamacare law. Representing the House is former Solicitor General and current Munger Tolles & Olsen partner Don Verrilli and Douglas Letter, who recently left his position at Georgetown University Law Center to take the position as counsel for the Democratic-controlled House. As reported by Law.com, this legal dream team is arguing they have the right to intervene in the case since the DOJ has failed to do so:

Verrilli and Letter assert that the Justice Department’s move opened the door for lawmakers’ intervention. They wrote: “[F]ederal law provides that the Attorney General has a right to intervene in litigation to defend the constitutionality of an Act of Congress when the United States or one of its agencies or officers is not already a party, and it empowers the House and/or the Senate to intervene to defend a statute if the Attorney General fails to do so.”

At the very least, they contend, their defense would address the same legal questions being litigated in the case, and their participation would cause “no undue delay or prejudice to the Court or the parties.”

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From Pilot and Above The Law

Verrilli is an old hand at ACA litigation. He defended the law from previous constitutional challenges in front of the Supreme Court in the 2012 case NFIB v. Sebelius. It’s good to see the Dems have experience on their bench as they again defend Barack Obama’s historic legislation.

According to a ruling by Judge O’Connor, the ACA will remain in effect during the appeals process.

headshot Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).