EXPERT ON PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Florida State University’s nationally recognized experts in law and medicine are available to discuss the ramifications of the decision.
Among the available experts is Franita Tolson, J.D., an assistant professor at the Florida State University College of Law.
Tolson’s scholarship focuses on the areas of constitutional law, election law, legal history and employment discrimination. Her research has been published in leading law reviews, and she has written for or appeared as a commentator for various mass media outlets. She can discuss the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
“Both defenders and opponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have attempted to preemptively paint any contrary outcome as a political decision by the court rather than a decision based on law," Tolson said. "The truth, however, is far more complicated. The Supreme Court could have, within the confines of precedent, determined that the act exceeds congressional authority under the commerce clause, or, alternatively, that it is consistent with this authority. It is this wiggle room that opens the court up for accusations of partisanship, even if the court is focused on achieving the right outcome rather than playing into the partisan machinations of the politicians and the public. Because of this, I suspect that one question that we will have to grapple with in the wake of the decision is what this case means for the rule of law and respect for the judiciary as an independent institution, as opposed to what should be our focus — whether the justices came to the right outcome based on the legal precedent as they understood it.
RSS