On Tuesday, November 8, the United States Court of Appelas for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld as constitutional the Obama administration’s 2010 health care reform legislation known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Notably, Judge Laurence H. Silberman, a conservative jurist appointed by Ronald Reagan, authored the majority’s opinion.

The central challenge to the Act focuses on whether Congress has the authority, under the Constitution, to require individuals to buy health insurance no later than 2014 or pay an annual penalty for failing to do so. Judge Silberman’s opinion reasoned that there is no absolute right to freedom from federal legislation and that Congress has the power to forge national solutions to national problems, even when those solutions affect individuals locally. In a dissenting opinion, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh argued that the courts lack jurisdiction to review the law until the penalites actually take effect in 2015.

The United States Supreme Court will decide on Thursday whether to hear the same challenge to the Act. As of now, two federal appellate courts have upheld the law while another has struck it down. This split increases the likelihood that the Supreme Court will issue certiorari on the case.