July 9 appeal arguments set in ‘Obamacare’ case

NEW ORLEANS – A court has scheduled a July 9 hearing on a Texas-based judge’s ruling that former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law is unconstitutional.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans set the hearing date Tuesday.

The law’s opponents want a 5th Circuit panel to uphold U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor’s 2018 ruling striking down the law.

O’Connor said Congress rendered the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional in 2017 by eliminating a tax penalty for not having insurance. The Trump administration joined Texas and other Republican-led states seeking to uphold O’Connor.

Numerous Democratic state attorneys general and the U.S. House of Representatives appealed to overturn O’Connor’s ruling. They argue that zeroing out the penalty doesn’t render the law unconstitutional.

The law remains in effect during appeals.