Court comments by the 26 states, joined by the National Federation of Independent Business, said the Obama administration should have requested a stay, pending appeal, rather than request a clarification.
The administration had argued that the individual mandate does not go into effect until 2014, leaving plenty of time for appeal, while many provisions in the law have already taken effect or require immediate action. The administration has three days to respond to the states’ comments. Judge Vinson said he would then respond “promptly” to the clarification request.