On November 21, 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives filed a motion with the D.C. Court of Appeals requesting a temporary hold on briefing in U.S. House of Representatives v. Burwell as a result of Donald Trump’s election earlier this month.  The case is currently on appeal by President Obama’s administration after the District Court found that the appropriation of funds to pay cost-sharing subsidies to health insurers under Section 1402 of the Affordable Care Act was not approved by Congress and that it was unlawful for the Government to pay subsidies under such circumstances.  King & Spalding’s summary of the District Court’s decision in House v. Burwell may be found here.

The House asked the Court of Appeals to grant a temporary stay of the briefing schedule until February 21, 2017, at which point the House proposed that the parties would file a joint status update on the case, specifying either (i) that the parties were considering settling or dismissing the case or (ii) a new briefing schedule.  The House argued that a temporary stay of the briefing schedule would “provide the President-Elect and his future Administration time to consider whether to continue prosecuting or to otherwise resolve [the] appeal.”  The House motion also requested, in the alternative, a 45-day extension of the briefing schedule if the Court of Appeals did not grant the temporary hold on briefing until February 21.  

In response, the Obama administration filed a motion requesting that the briefing schedule continue uninterrupted, stating that the House identified “no harm to completing the briefing schedule to which the parties agreed” and arguing that the principles at issue in the appeal are not changed by the election outcome.  The House’s brief is currently due on December 23, 2016, with the reply due on January 19, 2017.

The case is U.S. House of Representatives v. Burwell et al., Case No. 16-5202. The House’s motion may be read here, with the Obama administration’s response found here.