House GOP gets another win in Obamacare lawsuit

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives scored another procedural victory in its precedent-setting lawsuit over Obamacare Monday, when a judge declined to allow an appeal of her earlier ruling that the House has the legal ability to sue.

"Suffice it to say, the court is not convinced that it erred," U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer wrote in a three-page opinion Monday in the of House of Representatives vs. Burwell.

The legal question of standing was considered the biggest possible obstacle to the House lawsuit, and Collyer ruled last month that the GOP-controlled House has the right to challenge the use of subsidies to help low-income people afford insurance coverage. Those subsidies were included in the Affordable Care Act, but the House maintains they're illegal because Congress never appropriated money for them.

The Obama administration wanted an immediate appeal, citing the precedent-setting nature of the case. 

Federal judge lets House Republicans' lawsuit against Obamacare advance

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"For the first time in our nation’s history, one house of Congress has been permitted to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts to resolve a disagreement between the political branches arising out of the executive branch’s administration of a federal program," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer argued. "Once a federal court asserts the power to decide which Branch should prevail in such a political dispute, the damage to the separation of powers can never be fully undone."

Collyer ruled Monday that she should consider the merits of the case before allowing an appeal. That's easier, she noted, because the case turns on entirely on questions of law. "The facts are not in dispute."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he was pleased with the ruling. "It’s another important step toward holding the president accountable for his unconstitutional actions," he said in a written statement.

Collyer, who sits in the District Court in Washington, was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush.