SCOTUS Tosses GOP A Bone, Won’t Hear Obamacare Case Until Week After Election

The Supreme Court will not hear a GOP-backed challenge to the Affordable Care Act until after the election, a move that will likely help Republicans narrowly swerve around a showdown over a lawsuit that figures prominently during a campaign season marred by the coronavirus pandemic.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1326941
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Providing, in my estimation, that much more motivation for Democrats to elect Biden and take the Senate, if, after the election, SCOTUS rules against the ACA and the Trumpists try some lame-duck gambit.

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The goal should then be to make the coming elimination the ACA and the return of “pre-existing conditions” an albatross for the GOP, so they rue the Day the Supreme Court attempted to put its finger on the scale of the election.

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Agreed. This uncertainty may be an advantage for the Democrats.

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So, Trump loses on election then the lame duck GOP has two months to dissolve the ACA.

Motherfuckers.

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Put the Individual Mandate into the next economic stimulus package. Make the case moot.

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In a tax code overhaul, Congress removed the individual mandate, a financial penalty for people who do not purchase health insurance in 2017.

Congress did not remove the individual mandate, that would require an amendment to the ACA. They reduced the penalty to $0, a reduction that could be reversed by the next Congress and signed by a President Biden.

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Great idea.

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And there you have it, folks. The glacial pace of the supreme court is Roberts’ favorite feature. But I’m sure legalizing public corruption will be handled urgently (again).

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Yeah I think so. I agree with y’all.

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That can’t happen. The lame duck Congress still includes the Democratic controlled House. Their only hope is that the Roberts Court buys the bullshit argument and voids the ACA in its entirety.

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And it won’t take the Democrats long to put it back together in a new and improved form.

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Exactly. That’s why the whole case is bogus. A tax set at $0 is still a tax.

Proof of that is that you still have to prove you have insurance to the IRS.

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Lame duck still has Pelosi in charge. So not happening.

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I don’t know why this will make Republicans happy? It is all the more reason to show how callous they are about access to affordable health care especially during a pandemic. So they hear the case after the election, the decision does not get published until late Spring or early Summer. Lots can happen.

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Yep. Reinstate the $1 tax penalty for failing to have health insurance. That’s all it would take to gut the whole dumb premise of this lawsuit.

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Then again, if they declare it unconstitutional, Biden can offer the public option, if not something even better.

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the SCOTUS hearing will take place just one week after the election, ensures that — in the absence of a decision — the ACA can likely remain at a safe distance as Trump campaigns for reelection and GOP candidates race for congressional seats

Seriously? That would be some truly passive politicking.

The SCOTUS has ensured that Democrats can, if they have a brain, pound their opponent over the loss of ACA benefits all the way through election day.

While they are talking about the loss of protection for people with preexisting conditions, they can remind voters that GOP bungling has infected over 5 million Americans with a preexisting condition called covid-19.

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Roberts would have a hard time reversing his own position, since all of the language is still in statute, just the amount was changed.

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Right - this is potentially a win-win situation for those of us who want universal health care.

The GOP Is stooopid.

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