Master Index of Archived Threads


The ObamaCare Thread

batmagadanleadoff Nov 10 2020 11:54 AM

Key Justices Signal Support for Affordable Care Act At a Supreme Court argument Tuesday, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh suggested that striking down one provision would not doom the balance of the law. Excerpt: WASHINGTON — The bulk of the Affordable Care Act, the sprawling 2010 health care law that is President Barack Obama's defining domestic legacy, appeared likely to survive its latest encounter with the Supreme Court in arguments on Tuesday. It was not clear whether the court would strike down the so-called individual mandate, which was rendered toothless in 2017 after Congress zeroed out the penalty for failing to obtain insurance. But at least five justices, including two members of the court's conservative majority, indicated that they were not inclined to strike down the balance of the law. In legal terms, they said the mandate was severable from the rest of the law. “It does seem fairly clear that the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision and leave the rest of the law in place,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/us/supreme-court-obamacare-aca.html Shades of the early FDR Supremes, who went moderate with the threat of court-packing hanging over their heads. TBD

batmagadanleadoff Nov 10 2020 12:02 PM Re: The ObamaCare Thread

Supreme Court appears ready to uphold Affordable Care Act over latest challenge from Trump, GOP Excerpt: A majority of the Supreme Court appeared ready Tuesday to uphold most of the Affordable Care Act in the face of a challenge from Republican-led states and the Trump administration. Two key members of the court — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh — said that Congress's decision in 2017 to zero-out the penalty for not buying health insurance did not indicate a desire to kill the entire law. “I tend to agree with you this is a very straightforward case for severability under our precedents, meaning that we would excise the mandate and leave the rest of the act in place,” Kavanaugh said to a lawyer defending the law. Roberts, who wrote the 2012 Supreme Court decision upholding the act's constitutionality, suggested again that the justices should not do something Congress itself has failed to do — repeal the law. “I think it's hard for you to argue that Congress intended the entire act to fall if the mandate were struck down when the same Congress that lowered the penalty to zero did not even try to repeal the rest of the act,” Roberts told Kyle D. Hawkins, the Texas solicitor general leading the red-state effort. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/10/scotus-hearing-aca-live-updates/