All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
That’s the Equal Protection clause. And that’s why states without exchanges will somehow have to get subsidies to their citizens, equivalent to subsidies rec’d by other US citizens in other states.
PPACA is not a state law.
If a federal law is written such that every person in the US is to receive a payment of $100 and the administrators withhold subsidies from some persons there would be a due process issue.
If a state law is written such that every person in that state is to receive a payment of $100 and the administrators withhold payment from some persons there would be a equal protection issue.
In either of these scenarios the process of law was not followed, was not applied equally.
Neither of these scenarios occur with PPACA subsidies. That federal law unambiguously specifies subsidies are available to those who purchase insurance through “an Exchange established by the State”