House Democrats are giving the Department of Justice two weeks to supply documents explaining why it reversed itself and decided to ask the courts to rule that all of Obamacare is unconstitutional.
“If we do not receive a response by [May 24], we will have no choice but to consider alternative means of obtaining compliance,” five committee chairmen wrote in a letter sent Monday to Attorney General William Barr and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, suggesting they would subpoena for the documents.
The lawmakers initially asked the Trump administration to provide the documents in a letter sent April 8, but the Department of Justice did not provide them by the April 22 deadline, even though officials acknowledged April 11 that they had received the letter.
The lawsuit, Texas v. Azar, is tentatively scheduled for oral arguments July 8 in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. It was initially waged by Republican state officials who said that all of Obamacare must be thrown out as a condition of Congress zeroing out the fine on the uninsured, which Republicans did through the 2017 tax overhaul law.
A federal judge in December sided with the GOP officials, but Obamacare remains in effect as the decision is under appeal.
Initially, the Trump administration sided with the GOP officials but asked only that parts of the law be thrown out, namely the rules prohibiting health insurance companies from turning away sick customers, from charging them more for their illness, or from refusing to cover medical services associated with managing their condition.
With the appeal, the administration changed course and asked for the entire law to be struck down, a decision Democrats called “politically motivated.” Democrats wrote that it was possible the White House and the Office of Management and Budget pressured Barr to change its position, and they hope the documents will reveal how the decision came about and whether there were any objections by top officials.
