Justices affirm constitutionality of Affordable Care Act amid Republican attacks on key provision
The US supreme court has upheld the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, after Republicans attempted to gut an important provision of the law during the Trump era.
In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled Republican states ultimately did not have “standing” or the right to sue. The ruling avoided the issue of whether the tax provision of the law called the “individual mandate”, and therefore the entire law, was unconstitutional.
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US healthcare
The Ten Year War review: Obamacare, Trump and Biden’s battles yet to come
Jonathan Cohn’s study of the fight for healthcare coverage delivers depth, dish and much for Democrats to ponder
Once upon a time, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was unpopular, viewed by many as welfare redux. Barack Obama’s promise that “If you like your healthcare plan, you’ll be able to keep your healthcare plan”, didn’t exactly work out. By the middle of the 2010s, so-called Obamacare had cost the Democrats both houses of Congress.
Related: The Good American review: Bob Gersony and a better foreign policy
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Conservative US supreme court justices suggest Obamacare will be upheld
Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts indicated law could be upheld even if court deems one part of it unconstitutional
Two conservative supreme court justices have suggested the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could be upheld, as oral arguments began in a suit backed by the Trump administration which threatens the healthcare of millions amid a global pandemic.
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Joe Biden says Trump’s refusal to concede defeat ‘an embarrassment’ – live
- President-elect says he has not spoken to Trump since Saturday
- Biden decries ‘rightwing ideologues’ for trying to wreck Obamacare
- Justices’ questions suggest skepticism of Republican arguments
- British PM Boris Johnson congratulates Biden
- Pompeo promises smooth transition to ‘second Trump administration’
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Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has drafted “anti-mob” legislation that would expand the state’s Stand Your Ground Law that would allow citizens to shoot anyone they suspect is engaged in looting, the Miami Herald reports.
The legislation is a reaction to anti-police brutality, The Herald’s Ana Ceballos and David Ovalle report:
“It allows for vigilantes to justify their actions,” said Denise Georges, a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor who had handled Stand Your Ground cases. “It also allows for death to be the punishment for a property crime — and that is cruel and unusual punishment. We cannot live in a lawless society where taking a life is done so casually and recklessly.”
The draft legislation put specifics behind DeSantis’ pledge in September to crack down on “violent and disorderly assemblies” after he pointed to “reports of unrest” in other parts of the country after the high-profile death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Since election day, Donald Trump and other Republicans have filed a smattering of lawsuits in battleground states that have provided cover for Trump and other Republicans to say that the election still remains unresolved.
Legal experts have noted these suits are meritless, and even if they were successful, would not be enough to overturn the election results. Indeed, judges in several of these lawsuits have already dismissed them, noting the Trump campaign has failed to offer evidence to substantiate allegations of fraud.
Related: Trump's longshot election lawsuits: where do things stand?
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Supreme court to hear Obamacare case that may lead to 20m losing insurance
Court will hear a case a week after election day that could result in the law being overturned – or only one provision eliminated
For more than a decade, Republicans have sought to destroy the signature achievement of the Obama administration – the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
Exactly one week after election day, they might succeed.
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Barack Obama recalls epic battle for healthcare law in excerpt from memoir
- Advance chapter released as ACA faces supreme court threat
- Ex-president details Republicans’ norm-breaking attacks
- US politics – live coverage
An advance chapter from Barack Obama’s first memoir of his White House years, published on Monday by the New Yorker, takes readers inside the epic political battle behind the passage of the Affordable Care Act at the end of his first year in office.
Related: Republicans closely resemble autocratic parties in H...
How Trump success in ending Obamacare will kill Fauci plan to conquer HIV
Conservatives see Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation as key in bringing down the Affordable Care Act. Doctors and scientists warn it will destroy a major effort to help vulnerable and poor Americans
In his State of the Union address in February 2019, Donald Trump vowed to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.
Related: 'Rick Scott had us on lockdown': how Florida said no to $70m for HIV crisis
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Amy Coney Barrett: key moments from the supreme court confirmation hearings – video
Amy Coney Barrett spent most of her time avoiding key questions during three days of Senate hearings to confirm her as a supreme court justice.
Barrett would become the third justice on the court to be appointed by Donald Trump – and her confirmation would give conservatives a bulletproof, six-justice majority on the nine-member court, which decides cases by a simple majority.
Barrett, a conservative Christian who has criticized the high court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act (ACA), who has publicly opposed reproductive rights and who was a trustee at a school whose handbook included a stated opposition to same-sex marriage, is seen on the left as part of a power play by Donald Trump
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Trump’s attacks on Obamacare could cost him in Texas and Florida
Number of uninsured Americans surges – and provokes a movement that might shape the results in two key states
When Donald Trump began campaigning for the presidency that he captured in 2016, he promised to decimate the Affordable Care Act. His agenda was in no way hidden. “It’s gotta go,” Trump said of the ACA in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash. “Repeal and replace with something terrific.”
More than five years later, the president still hasn’t articulated a plan for a system...
‘They’re coming for you’: Harris slams Trump and Pence on healthcare – video
One of the most memorable moments of the vice-presidential debate was on healthcare, when Harris issued a stark warning about the Trump administration’s intentions.
Trump is seeking to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, which prevents health companies turning away patients with pre-existing conditions.
'If you have a pre-existing condition, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, they’re coming for you. If you love someone who has a pre-existing con...