Next stop for health law appeal includes two GOP-appointed judges

May 13 2011

As news outlets were chewing over Tuesday's hearing on the health law, the next appeal panel, with two Republican-nominated judges, was announced.

The Hill: Cuccinelli Sounds Upbeat On Healthcare Challenge Despite Legal Drubbing
The next appeals court to hear challenges to the law will be the 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati on June 1. The judges ... have a much different ideological make-up than the Richmond trio: While Circuit Judge Boyce Martin, Jr. was appointed by Jimmy Carter, Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton is a George W. Bush appointee and District Judge James Graham was appointed by Ronald Reagan (Pecquet, 5/11).

Politico Pro: Next Judges To Hear Health Appeal Announced
The next panel to take up a health reform appeal might not be so friendly to the Affordable Care Act. ... The judges will hear oral arguments in the appeal by the conservative legal group Thomas More Law Center ... In the health reform cases, the judges' political appointments have taken on significant meaning. All of the district judges who have ruled on the merits of the law have done so along the partisan lines of the presidents who nominated them. It's unclear whether that trend will continue  (Haberkorn, 5/11).

CQ HealthBeat: Panel of Appeals Judges Named in Health Care Law Challenge in Michigan
A three-judge appeals court panel — with two members appointed by Republican presidents — was named Wednesday in the next challenge to the health care law scheduled for oral arguments. The case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit on the constitutionality of the law will be argued June 1 in Cincinnati. The panel will be made up of circuit judges Boyce F. Martin Jr. and Jeffrey S. Sutton, and U.S. District Judge James L. Graham of the Southern District of Ohio, sitting by designation by the chief judge of the circuit (Norman, 5/11). 

Related from KHN: Scoreboard: Tracking Health Law Court Challenges (Vaida, updated 5/11).