Columbus, OH – On Thursday, The Buckeye Institute filed its second amicus brief in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management (previously Braidwood Management v. Becerra) with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the Affordable Care Act violated the U.S. Constitution when it elevated the Preventative Services Task Force from its purely advisory role to make it a rule-making body without also reforming how members of the task force were appointed and confirmed. 

“The government’s attempt to create an independent agency without complying with the appointments clause strikes directly at the constitutional principle that liberty requires accountability,” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute. “And both the district court and the appeals court agreed.”  

Under the Affordable Care Act, the role of the Preventative Services Task Force changed from a purely advisory body—that is appointed and controlled by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—into a rule-making body that can force health insurers to cover preventative services at no cost to patients. In its brief, The Buckeye Institute argues that this change violated the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution.

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