On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the constitutional integrity of the Affordable Care Act. These arguments mark the third attempt Republicans have tried to overturn the 2010 law using the Supreme Court. The coalition, led by the Trump Administration and the state of Texas, spent over two hours on Tuesday arguing why the Affordable Care Act should be struck down. The California lead coalition then defended the Affordable Care Act. While the Supreme Court made no decision, leading conservative justices comments give us a good idea of the law's future. This article will look into the arguments made in California v. Texas. We will also discuss what the future of the Affordable Care Act looks like.
The Arguments Presented in California v. Texas
The main argument against the Affordable Care Act is the constitutionality of the individual mandate. When the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, it included an individual mandate. The individual mandate required most Americans to purchase health insurance to avoid paying a penalty.
This is not the first time conservatives have tried to use the individual mandate as reasoning to throw out the Affordable Care Act. Back in 2012, the Supreme Court heard arguments from the National Federation of Independent Businesses and Sebelius. The arguments focused on the fact that Congress does not have the right to penalize American citizens based on not purchasing health insurance. However, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the individual mandate was, in fact, constitutional. Chief Justice Roberts labeled the penalty as a tax that Congress had the right to impose on the American people.
Conservatives were not done with their efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. After trying and failing several times to repeal the law in Congress, conservatives tried another method. In 2017 Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This new law reduced the penalty of the individual mandate to $0. In 2018, 20 Republican state attorneys and governors filed a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act. This lawsuit would later be called California v. Texas. The lawsuit makes the argument that now that the individual mandate penalty is set to $0, it can no longer be interpreted as a tax making it unconstitutional. The lawsuit also asserts that the individual mandate is so integral to the Affordable Care Act that the only course of action is to throw out the entire law.
Along with 20 other states, California made the case that the individual mandate can be removed from the Affordable Care Act without making the entire law invalid.
The Future of The Affordable Care Act
The future of the Affordable Care Act remains uncertain. According to sources, we will not see a verdict until early Spring. However, comments made by several Justices may shine some light on where the court is leaning.
According to Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, they are not convinced that the entire law needs to be struck down to remove the individual mandate. Justice Kavanaugh had this to say, “This is a very straight forward case for severability under our precedents, meaning that we would excise the mandate and leave the rest of the act in place.”
Chief Justice Roberts also lectured the Texas coalition on the role of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice suggested that the Republicans in Congress were hoping the Supreme Court would do what they could not and eliminate the Affordable Care Act. However, Chief Justice Roberts reminded the Texas coalitions that it is not the Supreme Court's job.
With these comments in mind, we will most likely see the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate removed, but the law itself will remain constitutional.
Bibliography
Biskupic, Joan. “John Roberts Has Heard Just about Enough of Obamacare for One Lifetime.” CNN, Cable News Network, 10 Nov. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/politics/john-roberts-affordable-care-act-again/index.html.
Keith, Katie. “Supreme Court Arguments: Even If Mandate Falls, Rest Of Affordable Care Act Looks Likely To Be Upheld: Health Affairs Blog.” Health Affairs, 11 Nov. 2020, www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20201111.916623/full/.
Liptak, Adam. “Supreme Court Hearing Arguments on Fate of Affordable Care Act.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/us/supreme-court-obamacare-aca.html.
Quinn, Melissa. “‘Not Our Job’: Roberts, Kavanaugh Appear Skeptical of Striking down Obamacare at Supreme Court.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 10 Nov. 2020, www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-obamacare-oral-arguments-roberts-kavanaugh/
