A Texas federal judge has ruled the ENTIRE Affordable Care Act unconstitutional because of the GOP tax law's gutting of the individual mandate.
There are no senators who voted for the tax law thinking it would eliminate the ACA; it would never have passed with that understanding. Trust me, I've spoken to many, many, many senators about this.
BUT, if this ruling stands, the ACA is gone, toast.
BUT, if this ruling stands, the ACA is gone, toast.
SCOTUS controls whether or not the ACA is eviscerated:
Roberts (Voted to save ACA last time)
Kavanaugh (Convinced Susan Collins, Manchin he wouldn't nuke ACA)
Gorsuch
Thomas (Voted to nuke ACA previously)
Alito (Ditto)
RBG, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan have previously backed ACA.
Roberts (Voted to save ACA last time)
Kavanaugh (Convinced Susan Collins, Manchin he wouldn't nuke ACA)
Gorsuch
Thomas (Voted to nuke ACA previously)
Alito (Ditto)
RBG, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan have previously backed ACA.
Have to read a little more about the ruling to see if this also eliminates all of the tax hikes in the ACA. Because how do you argue it is congressional intent to increase the budget deficit in such a way that would have violated the very budget rules used to pass the bill?
The ruling came the evening before the final day of open enrollment for ACA plans. (Millions are eligible to sign up with large federal subsidies and no discrimination against pre-existing conditions -- which will all go to zero if the judge's interpretation of the law holds up.)
Also gone would be Medicaid expansion money for many states, which in turn covers millions more.
