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Huzzah, the ACA survives again

The Court rejected the case on standing grounds so theoretically another case could come along raising the same issues . But it was a dumbass case that nobody took seriously or even thought it would reach the Court in the first place so that’s unlikely. And every year hat the law stands, it becomes more solidified in Americans’ lives. The last I heard more than 30 million people were on Obamacare.

Anyway, here are the details if you haven’t heard:

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act, saying Republican-led states do not have the legal standing to try to upend the law.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the court’s 7 to 2 decision that preserves the law that provides millions of Americans with health coverage.

Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M Gorsuch dissented.

The decision meant the attempt to derail President Barack Obama’s landmark domestic achievement met the fate of past legal challenges, in 2012 and 2015.

The key issue this time was whether a 2017 decision by Congress to remove the penalty for not buying health insurance — the so-called individual mandate — meant that the law was unconstitutional and should be wiped from the books.

That would end popular provisions such as keeping young adults on their parents’ insurance policies, and ensuring coverage for those with preexisting medical conditions.

But the court said the states did not have the legal standing to bring the challenge.

Past coverage: Supreme Court appears ready to uphold Affordable Care Act over latest challenge from Trump, GOP

President Biden, in contrast to former president Donald Trump, has said he plans to build on the program to offer more Americans health care coverage.

The red-state challenge came to the Supreme Court at an inopportune time — endangering the health-care coverage of more than 20 million Americans during the country’s gravest health crisis in a century.

Even congressional Republicans who have targeted Obamacare in the past distanced themselves from the suit brought by the Republican state attorneys general and joined by the previous administration.

The case posed three questions: Do the challengers have legal standing to bring the challenge? Did changes made by Congress in 2017 render unconstitutional the ACA’s requirement for individuals to buy insurance? And if so, can the rest of the law be separated out, or must it fall in its entirety?

“We do not reach these questions of the Act’s validity, however, for Texas and the other plaintiffs in this suit lack the standing necessary to raise them,” Breyer wrote.

The cases are California v. Texas and Texas v. California.

Even Clarence Thomas signed on to this one. And he hates everything.

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