A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia endorsed the constitutionality of health care reform this week in an opinion as notable for its authorship as for its legal reasoning. The majority opinion in the 2-to-1 decision was written by Judge Laurence Silberman, a stalwart of conservative jurisprudence whose views are said to be enormously influential in conservative legal circles.

Judge Silberman, appointed to the court by Ronald Reagan, was a mentor to Justice Clarence Thomas and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush in 2008. His conclusions align with those of a prominent George W. Bush appointee, Judge Jeffrey Sutton, who wrote a concurring opinion upholding the law as part of a 2-to-1 majority in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati.

Judge Silberman made short shrift of all the arguments raised by opponents of the reform law, finding no support for their arguments “in either the text of the Constitution or Supreme Court precedent.” He concluded that the federal government has the power under the Commerce Clause to require that most people obtain health insurance or pay a penalty. Despite concerns that this individual mandate encroaches on personal liberty, he ruled that “the right to be free from federal regulation is not absolute, and yields to the imperative that Congress be free to forge national solutions to national problems.”

Counting this week’s decision, four appellate courts have issued rulings on the mandate’s constitutionality, each decided by a 2-to-1 vote. Two courts upheld the requirement, one found it unconstitutional, and one said the case was not ripe for review because penalties for not complying would not begin until 2015.