Five Ways The Sixth Circuit Could Decide Its Affordable Care Act Case

Tomorrow, the Sixth Circuit will become the second appeals court to consider a constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s provision requiring most Americans to either carry insurance or pay slightly more income taxes. The three judge panel hearing tomorrow’s case includes Judge Boyce Martin, a reliably progressive vote, and Judge Jeffrey Sutton, a hardline conservative with a long history of states rights and GOP activism. In other words, the result in this case could come down to the panel’s third member, an obscure trial judge named James Graham with far less of a record on constitutional issues.