Affordable Care Act Upheld!
June 28, 2012 8:45 am
In a stunning and somewhat unexpected victory, this morning the Supreme Court “largely let stand President Obama’s health care overhaul, in a mixed ruling that court observers were rushing to analyze … with a majority of the court, including the conservative chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr., affirming the central legislative pillar of Mr. Obama’s term.”
“The controlling opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, upheld the mandate as a tax, although concluded it was not valid as an exercise of Congress’ commerce clause power,” writes Mike Sacks at the Huffington Post. “[B]y siding with the court’s four Democratic appointees, Chief Justice Roberts avoided the delegitimizing taint of politics that surrounds a party-line vote while passing Obamacare’s fate back to the elected branches. GOP candidates and incumbents will surely spend the rest of the 2012 campaign season running against the Supreme Court and for repeal of the law.”
Democrats, Progressives and Moderates across the country are celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision this morning, calling it an enormous win for the middle class despite one change to the law that could adversely effect the poor: “On Medicaid expansion, the court upheld the expansion but with a critical caveat: The federal government may not threaten the states that don’t comply with the loss of their existing funding. Essentially, the Medicaid expansion is now optional for the states.”
Response from the right has been swift, with the Republican National Committee coming out with a new twitter hashtag, “#FullRepeal,” and Speaker of the House John Boehner scheduling yet another repeal vote for July 9th (no word yet from Mitt Romney, as of 11:00 AM, EST).
Still, after SCOTUS’ dispiriting decisions handed down in recent months over Citizens United and Arizona’s immigration law, spirits are high following today’s decision, which (if the ACA is not repealed) would “end the United States’ status as the only rich country with large numbers of uninsured people, by expanding both the private market and Medicaid.”
In advance of attacks and/or backlash from the right, supporters of Obamacare are beginning to prepare. Click here to tell Congress that you stand with President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.