Attorney General Scott Pruitt Praises Supreme Court Decision to Review Illegal ACA Subsidies

OKLAHOMA CITY November 7, 2014 – Attorney General Scott Pruitt praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to take up for review a lawsuit challenging illegal IRS subsidies being issued as part of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

The state of Oklahoma was the first to challenge the illegal IRS subsidies in 2012 and in September 2014 prevailed in federal district court in that lawsuit (Pruitt v. Burwell). Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to review King v. Burwell, a lawsuit that makes the same legal claims as Oklahoma’s ACA challenge.

“I am pleased justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have agreed to review the challenge raised by Oklahoma and others of the illegal IRS subsidies being handed out as part of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Executive agencies like the IRS cannot ignore the plain language in a statute and rewrite laws with which they disagree. That is precisely what the IRS did when it issued these illegal ACA subsidies. This Supreme Court review will provide Oklahoma and the 35 other states that did not establish state-based exchanges with immediate and conclusive clarity as to their rights and obligations under the ACA so that the states may make appropriate health care policy decisions.”