(Originally published by The Regulatory Review on July 24, 2025.)

Several years ago, I assigned my first-year Constitutional Law students briefs filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in what was then Braidwood Management v. Becerra so they could see how constitutional claims are argued at the start of litigation. The district court was considering, among other issues, whether the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—which, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), rates preventive care for mandatory coverage by health insurers—violates the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Appointments Clause requires, outside of recess appointments, that so-called principal officers be appointed by the President with the Senate’s consent but allows Congress to vest authority to appoint “inferior officers” in department heads alone.

Continue reading the opinion here.