So far it looks like Colin Seeberger of the Center for American Progress is the only one posting live/semi-live updates on the #TexasFoldEm proceedings:
RELATED, via Sahil Kapur:
Brett Kavanaugh declines to promise he'd uphold ACA protections for preexisting conditions as constitutional: "I can't give assurances on a specific hypothetical."
I know, I know...I've explained this (and posted the graphic below) several times already, but with the actual oral arguments about to kick off in federal court this morning, I figured I should lay it out one more time:
- In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the ACA's individual mandate penalty was Constitutional.
- They ruled it was Constitutional because they consider it to be a tax, which Congress has the right to impose.
- In 2017, Congressional Republicans changed the amount of the ACA individual mandate from $695 (or 2.5% of income) to $0 (or 0.0% of income).
- In February, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), along with 19 other Republican Attorneys General and Governors, sued the federal government.
- The 20 GOP Attorneys General/Governors claim that the entire ACA is Unconstitutional because Congressional Republicans reset the mandate penalty to $0.
- They claim that if the tax is $0, it no longer counts as a tax, and that since there's no longer a tax, the mandate is no longer valid, and therefore the rest of the ACA is invalid as well and must be struck down as being Unconstitutional.
- That's their entire case.
- Yes, I'm serious.
- Even Case Western law professor Jonathan Adler--one of the architects of the LAST high-profile anti-ACA case to make it to the Supreme Court--has stated that this case has zero merit whatsoever.
- Donald Trump's Justice Department, which is supposed to defend against cases like this, instead instructed their attorneys to effectively throw the case.
- Four Justice Department attorneys, including one who's high-ranking and highly-respected, have either withdrawn from the case or resigned in protest.
- The plaintiffs want the entire law thrown out, but "would settle" for the Guaranteed Issue and Community Rating provisions being thrown out.
- The Trump Administration wants, Guaranteed Issue and Community Rating provisions thrown out.
- Guaranteed Issue = Insurance carriers have to offer policies to everyone regardless of medical history/condition.
- Community Rating = Insurance carriers can't charge people more based on their medical history/condition.
- Seventeen Democratic Attorneys General have instead stepped up to defend the ACA in federal court.
- This means that the case is now between 20 Republican Attorneys General and 18 Democratic Attorneys General.
- Meanwhile, healthcare coverage for tens of millions of people once again hang in the balance.
Here's the 20 Republican Attorneys General & Governors who filed the case to repeal the ACA:
Here's the 17 Democratic Attorneys General who are defending the ACA:
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