Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act, ruling that Texas doesn't have standing to challenge Obama's signature healthcare law
Patrick Semansky/AP
- The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act on Thursday.
- The court said that GOP-controlled states challenging the law in the case lacked standing.
- The ruling in the case, California v. Texas, was 7-2.
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The US Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, saying that the GOP-controlled states challenging the law in the case lacked standing.
The 7-2 ruling leaves the Obama-era healthcare law intact and preserves healthcare coverage for millions of Americans.
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the majority opinion and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barret, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarence Thomas.
The case, California v. Texas, was the third challenge of the Affordable Care Act that the Supreme Court has heard.
Filed by a coalition of states led by Texas, the case challenged the "individual mandate" provision, in which people without health insurance face a tax penalty. The court ruled that the states lacked standing, meaning their argument did not meet the requirements to be considered by the court as a genuine constitutional issue.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has largely withstood legal challenges and prevailed despite repeated attempts by Republicans in Congress to repeal and replace it.
The closest Republicans got was in the summer of 2017, when they controlled both the House and the Senate and had President Donald Trump in the White House.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona famously voted against the so-called skinny repeal, a watered-down version of a repeal that drew backlash and protests back home for several congressional Republicans.
Though it was significantly paired back, the skinny repeal was unpopular with voters and contributed to Republicans losing their House majority in the 2018 midterm elections as Democrats campaigned heavily on healthcare.