Judge backs Okla. over administration in ObamaCare case

Oklahoma won a key victory in its legal battle against the Affordable Care Act on Tuesday, creating new questions over the use of tax subsides under President Obama’s signature healthcare law.

U.S. District Judge Ronald White sided with Oklahoma’s attorney general, who accused the federal government of illegally handing out tax credits to certain states that created their own exchanges under ObamaCare instead of opting for the federal exchange.

{mosads}“The court holds that the IRS Rule is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law,” White wrote in his decision.

The state attorney general, Scott Pruitt, had argued that the rules unfairly punish states like Oklahoma, which is one of three-dozen states that use the federal exchange.

The ruling was a victory for Pruitt, though he has said he believes the case will ultimately be settled in the Supreme Court.

“Today’s ruling is a consequential victory for the rule of law. The administration and its bureaucrats in the IRS handed out billions in illegal tax credits and subsidies and vastly expanded the reach of the health care law because they didn’t like the way Congress wrote the Affordable Care Act. That’s not how our system of government works,” Pruitt wrote in a statement.

Oklahoma was the first state to file a lawsuit against the tax rules in 2012. Several other states have subsequently launched similar actions.