Advancing American Freedom led a coalition of 12 other amici filing amicus briefs fighting price controls in Janssen v. Kennedy and Bristol Meyers Squib Company v. Kennedy. In these case, drug manufacturers are asking the Supreme Court to hear their challenges to price controls implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Biden Administration’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Under the IRA, CMS selects certain drugs for price “negotiation,” the statute’s euphemism for price controls.
The Constitution creates a government of limited powers, but, through spending and with the blessing of the Supreme Court, the federal government has greatly expanded its power by attaching conditions to its outlays. In doing so, it breaks through its constitutional barriers. That excess is made worse where, as here, the government uses its spending to force price controls on companies.
The Fifth Amendment contains the Takings Clause which prohibits the government from taking property without just compensation. Yet, through programs like the IRA’s price “negotiation,” the government deprives American businesses of economic value without compensation.
“When the government acts as a buyer, it can, of course, engage in good faith price negotiations with sellers. On the other hand, when the government strongarms businesses to ‘make them an offer they can’t refuse,’ government uses its position which the Founders sought to avoid by enshrining the Takings Clause in the Fifth Amendment,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “We urge the Supreme Court to take up these cases during America’s 250th anniversary and enforce the Constitution’s limits on federal power.”