Fort Worth judge issued his decision, agreeing with 20 states challenging the law, on the eve of the 2019 sign-up deadline
A US federal judge in Texas ruled on Friday that the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is unconstitutional, a decision that was likely to be appealed to the supreme court.
US district judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth agreed with a coalition of 20 states that a change in tax law last year eliminating a penalty for not having health insurance invalidated the entire Obamacare law.
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How Republicans are turning US states into labs of anti-democracy
The party’s brazen efforts to rewire state legislature poses a greater threat than Trump – and will be all the harder to tackle
America’s federal system of government is, in theory, key to the strength of its democracy. As opposed to citizens in the more centralized states of Europe, Americans get to vote for a huge array of local offices, policies and ballot initiatives that can influence their lives for the better. Innovation in the states can be healthy for the whole country, such as when healthcare reform in Massachusetts provided inspiration for the Affordable Care Act. The supreme court justice Louis Brandeis famously praised US states as laboratories which could “try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country”.
Related: Voter suppression is an all-American problem we can fight – and win | Cas Mudde
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Voting rights, marijuana and tampons: the night in ballot measures
State passes largest expansion of voting rights in decades as Massachusetts affirms transgender protections
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It’s not all about the red v blue. In dozens of states, voters cast ballots Tuesday on issues ranging from voting rights and climate change to gun control and taxing tech to fund homeless services. Four states will see voters weigh in on...
Midterm elections: Sean Hannity accused of lying about Trump rally as Beto O’Rourke delivers final message – live
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Guardian readers have been in touch about how they’re voting and the reasons why. For Lynne in New Mexico, universal healthcare and abortion rights are key issues. “I’d like to see universal healthcare provi...
Has Obamacare become a winning issue for Democrats?
Democrats were once reluctant to engage with attacks on the law. But in the midterms campaign, the tide has turned
Donald Trump would like to believe it’s all about him. And there is no doubt that the extraordinarily divisive US president has helped drive turnout on both sides of the midterm elections.
But after their catastrophe of 2016, when Hillary Clinton was criticised for lacking a clear message to compete with “Make America great again”, Democrats realised that a pure anti-Trump message would not be enough. Instead, many have maintained a laser-like focus on a single issue: protecting Americans’ healthcare.
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Trump claims ignorance over racist election advert after Fox and Facebook pull it – live
President said ‘I don’t know about it’ when asked about the advert that included false claims and was criticized for stoking fear of immigrants
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10.36pm GMT
Trump is in Indiana. Why Indiana? He hopes to tip the senate race away from Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly and toward challenger Mike Braun, a former R...
Trump said black people were ‘too stupid’ to vote for him, claims Michael Cohen – live
Cohen told Vanity Fair that Trump ‘repeatedly used racist language before his presidency’. Meanwhile, Obama speaks in Florida before midterms
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7.44pm GMT
Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state congresswoman, is one of hundreds of Democrats now running on single-payer healthcare, a monumental shift to the left for the party which – even when it controlled Congress and the White House in 200...
In about-face, Republicans make fixing Obamacare central to re-election push
Republicans wanted to gut Obamacare. Now, a wave of candidates advertise support for the ‘pre-existing conditions’ provision
In a House race in rural upstate New York, a congressional district containing some counties where Trump won by more than 22%, the Republican incumbent Elise Stefanik is campaigning on what would have been unthinkable five years ago: fixing Obamacare.
Stefanik is one of a wave of Republicans who, in the final weeks of the midterms election campaign, have ...
Trump officials move to restrict immigrants who use public benefits
Proposals mean permanent residence applicants could be judged a burden for receiving legal benefits like food aid
The Trump administration on Saturday said it would propose making it harder for foreigners living in the United States to qualify for permanent US residency if they have received public benefits such as food aid, public housing or Medicaid.
The proposed regulation from the Department of Homeland Security would instruct immigration officers to consider whether a person has received a range of taxpayer-funded benefits to which they are legally entitled in determining whether a potential immigrant is likely to become a public burden.
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Protesters out in force to oppose Brett Kavanaugh nomination | The Resistance Now
Republican Senate swing voters targeted; GOP go careful on the Affordable Care Act; and a new statue of Alice Dunnigan
Protesters were out in full force opposing Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the supreme court, with dozens arrested on Thursday as they targeted the offices of Republican senators viewed as swing votes on his confirmation.
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