The Supreme Court has rejected the republicans’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare on Thursday. With the court’s decision, the Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land.
The justices ruled that the challengers of the 2010 law did not have the legal right to bring the case..
The court voted 7-2 against the challenge (read the opinion here).
The Supreme Court did not address the constitutionality of Obamacare’s individual mandate or whether it can be separated from the remainder of the law, the other two issues raised by the states.
“We do not reach these questions of the Act’s validity, however, for Texas and the other plaintiffs in this suit lack the standing necessary to raise them,” Breyer wrote. The states, the Supreme Court said, failed to show that the individual mandate, “without any prospect of penalty, will harm them by leading more individuals to enroll in these programs
This was the third time that the law has survived a Supreme Court challenge since its passage in 2010.
The ruling from the Supreme Court is a major victory for President Biden and Democrats, who have fought to shield the Affordable Care Act from numerous attempts by Republicans to kill it both through legislation and in the courts. Biden, who was vice president when Obamacare was enacted, has vowed to expand the health care law during his presidency.
“With millions of people relying on the Affordable Care Act for coverage, it remains, as ever, a BFD. And it’s here to stay,” President Joe Biden tweeted Thursday.
“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision is a major victory for all Americans benefitting from this groundbreaking and life-changing law. It is a victory for more than 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions and millions more who were in immediate danger of losing their health care in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic,” President Biden said in a statement on the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act.
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