King v. Burwell (14-114)
argument 14-114King v. Burwell
Supreme Court of the United States
1h 25m
6 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 5 days ago
official recording ↗
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the central issue of standing for the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell?
We'll hear an argument this morning in case fourteen eleven four King versus Burwell. Mr. Carvin?
Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the court, this is a straightforward case of statutory construction where the plain language of the statute dictates the result.
Mr. Carlton, will you please back up because before we get to question of statutory construction, as you know, each plaintiff or at least one plaintiff has to have a concrete stake in these questions. They can't put them as ideological questions. And we have as four four plaintiffs As to two of them, uh there is a declaration stating I am not eligible for health insurance from the government, but there's a question of whether they are veterans eligible for coverage as veterans.
Um yes, one of those is Mr. Hurst, who would have to, if I would refer you to the joint appendix of page 42, where this is the government's recitation of facts, where they make it clear that Mr. Hurst would have to spend $750 of his own money as because of the IRS rule. Mr. Hurst was a veteran for ten months in 1970. He is not eligible for any uh veteran's service because if you've served such a short uh health services.
But the court
has an obligation to look into it on its own.
That's true and but of course there has been fact finding by lower courts in an adversarial system. I don't believe the court does its own
I don't think it was ever brought up in the lower court that they these two people were veterans.
If I can make one further point on this, uh Justice Ginsburg, even if he were technically eligible, which he is not, uh there's a f uh IRS Rule twenty six C F R one point three six B two C I I which says you will uh with the usual clarity of the IRS code, uh uh making clear that um you are only disabled from receiving subsidies if you have actually enrolled uh in a veterans health services and it's undisputed that Mr. Hurst Mr Hurst.
That's the position too. And then there were the the two women, I think one of them was going to turn sixty five. uh in June which would make her Medicaid eligible.
Uh she will turn sixty five in late June. She's obviously subject to the individual mandate. Well in advance of that, um by virtue of the IRS rule, she would have to spend eighteen uh hundred dollars per year for health insurance by virtue of the IRS excuse me.
But y you said she will turn sixty-five in June. Late June, yeah. So that's takes care of twenty fifteen.
No. Right now she is obliged under the individual mandate to have insurance. You you have to have insurance for nine months of the year. And so as of April 1st, she will be subject to the penalty, which will uh be alleviated only by appealing. Again
I'll I'll ask the government if they agree with you on that. And then I think for the fourth plaintiff there's a question whether she would qualify for a hard sick hardship exemption. from the individual mandate, even if she received the tax credit, in which case the tax credits would be irrelevant.
That's true. Again, I'll refer you to the uh uh joint appendix at f at 41. That was the government's argument below. We didn't want to get into a factual dispute about it because we had such clear standing with the government.
Yeah, but you have to but you would have to establish the standing, prove the standing. Well And if this gets beyond the opening door.
Fair enough, Your Honor, but but it's black letter law that only one plaintiff needs standing and for the reasons I've already articulated, both uh plaintiff Hearst and Plaintiff Lee behind. I
don't want to detain you on this anymore, but I will ask the government what their position is on standing.
Thank you. Returning to the merits, um the only provision in the Act which either authorizes or limits subsidies, uh says in plain English that the subsidies are only available through an exchange established by the state under Section thirteen eleven. If you're going to elaborate on that
I I would appreciate your In your elaboration. I've read that and this statute is like the tax code, more than it's like the Constitution.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the central issue of standing for the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell?
0:01–10:51
2
How does the government argue that the term “exchange established by the State” should be read?
10:51–19:36
3
Why do the petitioners claim that subsidies are only available on state‑run exchanges?
19:36–29:33
4
What role do veteran eligibility and the individual mandate play in the case?
29:33–40:47
5
How does the debate over Medicaid funding affect the interpretation of the statute?
40:47–51:23
6
Why do the parties invoke the doctrine of constitutional avoidance in their arguments?
51:23–1:03:32
7
What is the significance of Chevron deference to the IRS’s authority under § 36B?
1:03:32–1:14:49
8
How might the Court’s decision impact the future of health‑insurance exchanges and subsidies?
1:14:49–1:25:17