by Steven Hall
The Supreme Court slammed Texas and other Republican-led states’ attempts on Thursday to take down Obamacare.
The 18 Republican states challenged whether the individual mandate, a requirement by law for people to purchase healthcare, can be cut from the rest of the law or if they can repeal the legislation in its entirety.
The court voted 7-2 that the plaintiffs were not required to pay anything under the mandate provision and therefore didn’t have the standing to bring the challenge to court.
“We conclude that the plaintiffs in this suit failed to show a concrete, particularized injury fairly traceable to the defendants’ conduct in enforcing the specific statutory provision they attack as unconstitutional. They have failed to show that they have standing to attack as unconstitutional the Act’s minimum essential coverage provision,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in his majority opinion.
“Therefore, we reverse the Fifth Circuit’s judgment in respect to standing, vacate the judgment, and remand the case with instructions to dismiss,” Breyer wrote.
Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch disagreed with the court’s majority opinion.
“Today’s decision is the third installment in our epic Affordable Care Act trilogy, and it follows the same pattern as installments one and two,” Alito wrote in a dissent. “In all three episodes, with the Affordable Care Act facing a serious threat, the Court has pulled off an improbable rescue.”
—@SpeakerPelosi on the SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare — the key issue she has battled for: “A landmark victory for Democrats’ work to defend protections for people with pre-existing condiitions.” pic.twitter.com/kWdmLNNpoU
—@SpeakerPelosi on the SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare — the key issue she has battled for: "A landmark victory for Democrats' work to defend protections for people with pre-existing condiitions." pic.twitter.com/kWdmLNNpoU
— Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) June 17, 2021
Obamacare was previously challenged two other times, in 2016 to decide the constitutionality of the law’s contraception mandate, and in 2012 when the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate in a 5-4 decision.
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Steven Hall is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
The question is one of severability. The Obama law does not include a provision that prevents the entire law from being terminated if any part of the law is declared illegal. A very poorly constructed piece of legislation. Regarding SCOTUS’s lame declaration of the claimants having no standing. Frankly, every American is damaged by ObamaCare. Everyone should have standing. It is a just a cop out.