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REASONS FOR GRANTING THE PETITION

The reasons for granting the petition are simple
and compelling. Two federal Circuits have divided
over whether the IRS has authority to spend tens of
billions of dollars per year to subsidize health
coverage in 36 states. If the ACA means what it
says, as the D.C. Circuit held, the consequences are
profound: It means millions of people are ineligible
for subsidies and exempt from the ACAs individual
mandate penalty. It means hundreds of thousands of
employers are free of the Acts employer mandate. It
means a fundamental change in the health insurance
market in two-thirds of the country. And it means
that the IRS is illegally spending billions of taxpayer
dollars every month without congressional authority.
Uncertainty over this issue is simply not tenable.
That is why each Circuit expedited its proceedings,
and it is why this Court should grant review now and
resolve the matter this Term, regardless of whether
the D.C. Circuit grants en banc review of Halbig.
I. THE FOURTH CIRCUIT AND D.C. CIRCUIT
HAVE REACHED OPPOSITE CONCLUSIONS
ABOUT THE VALIDITY OF THE IRS RULE.
There is a plain conflict between two federal
Courts of Appeals over the validity of the IRS Rule.
The D.C. Circuit in Halbig ruled that an Exchange
established by HHS is plainly not established by the
State, and therefore ordered the Rule vacated. The
court below, however, believed that the statute was
ambiguous on this question, and so upheld the Rule
as a permissible exercise of agency discretion. The
disagreement is clear and all of the arguments on
both sides have been thoroughly aired. Only this
Court can ultimately resolve the issue.