The Wall Street Journal (9/24, Kendall, Subscription Publication) said Kavanaugh pointed out that "in 220 years...Congress has never once mandated a purchase," but he and fellow conservative judge Laurence Silberman did not signal an outright intention to overturn the law.
The National Journal (9/24, Sanger-Katz, Subscription Publication) reported that "the three-judge panel randomly selected to hear the DC case included two influential conservative judges with close ties to justices on the Supreme Court. If they vote to uphold the law, it could predict how the high court resolves the cases, court watchers said." The suit, "brought by five people who did not want to buy health insurance for religious reasons, challenged the health care law's requirement that every citizen do so or face a penalty fee beginning in 2014." CQ (9/24, Norman, Subscription Publication) also covered the story.