- http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/760921
- http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/761048
- http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/761102
- http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/761138
Provide names of other journalists involved.
I did not share a byline with anyone. I credit my editor Debbie Flapan with, as usual, improving my stories with her revisions.
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
First Day of Supreme Court Oral Arguments on ACA: Is the Penalty a Tax? Mar 26, 2012 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/760921 Day 2 at the Supreme Court: Individual Mandate and the ‘Broccoli Possibility’ Mar 27, 2012 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/761048 Day 3 at the Supreme Court: Can the ACA Stand Without the Mandate? Mar 28, 2012 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/761102 Day 3 at the Supreme Court: Does the ACA Coerce States to Expand Medicaid? Mar 28, 2012 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/761138 Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act Jun 28, 2012 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/765416
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Elected officials in 26 states asked a federal district judge in Florida to declare the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. They said the law violated the Commerce Clause by requiring individuals to obtain insurance coverage and violated the states’ rights prinicple of the 10th Amendment by coercing states to expand their Medicaid programs. There were other federal lawsuits filed against the ACA, but only the Florida case was litigated all the way to the Supreme Court. The nation’s high court upheld the individual mandate as a constitutional exercise in taxation even though it overstepped the bounds of the Commerce Clause, in the court’s opinion. It agreed with the states that they should have the right to opt out of Medicaid expansion, but otherwise left the Medicaid provisions of the law intact. So the law as a whole survived the legal challenge.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
I followed the litigation seeking to overturn the ACA from the first case filed in a federal district court in Florida to the case before the Supreme Court. I relied primarily on court filings at every stage of the litigation. Reporting on the Supreme Court case required me to study past decisions involving the Constitution’s Commerce clause and the 10th Amendment.
Explain types of human sources used.
I interviewed a bevy of constitutional-law experts at various universities and think-tanks.
Results:
N/A
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Be willing to go outside your usual beat and gain fluency in a new field. With this news coverage, I needed to venture outside healthcare reform per se to understand constitutional law, which the SCOTUS case ultimately was all about.