By Susan Duclos
The much anticipated Supreme Court Ruling on Obamacare aka Affordable Health Care, decision is expected to come down today. Out of the three rulings expected Obamacare promises to be the biggest and will probably be the third announced.
[Update] The entire 193 pages Supreme Court decisions with dissenting opinions has been embedded below the post.
[Update] THE GOOD NEWS FOR CONSERVATIVES- It is now official and can be used in every campaign ad against Obama's reelection- Barack Obama and Democrats now own the "largest Middle-Class tax increase in history.
The Bad News: Obamacare has been upheld.
[Update] The SCOTUSBlog liveblog event's Amy Howe reports at 10:08AM, "the individual mandate survives as a tax".
10:11AM- Amy Howe: The Medicaid provision is limited but not invalidated.
10:22AM- Lyle: The key comment on salvaging the Medicaid expansion is this (from Roberts): "Nothing in our opinion precludes Congress from offering funds under the ACA to expand the availability of health care, and requiring that states accepting such funds comply with the conditions on their use. What Congress is not free to do is to penalize States that choose not to participate in that new program by taking away their existing Medicaid funding." (p. 55)
10:32--Amy Howe:- In Plain English: The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional. There were not five votes to uphold it on the ground that Congress could use its power to regulate commerce between the states to require everyone to buy health insurance. However, five Justices agreed that the penalty that someone must pay if he refuses to buy insurance is a kind of tax that Congress can impose using its taxing power. That is all that matters. Because the mandate survives, the Court did not need to decide what other parts of the statute were constitutional, except for a provision that required states to comply with new eligibility requirements for Medicaid or risk losing their funding. On that question, the Court held that the provision is constitutional as long as states would only lose new funds if they didn't comply with the new requirements, rather than all of their funding.
[Update] The vote was 5-4 with CJ Roberts voting to save Obamacare.
[Update] DavidHogberg, via Twitter, : RT @jaycaruso: Flashback: President Obama: Mandate is not a tax http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2009/09/obama-mandate-is-not-a-tax/
SCOTUSBlog is hosting a minute-by-minute discussion and providing links as they come out, HERE.
As soon as the ruling is posted on the United States Supreme Court website, the full decision will be uploaded and be embedded below. Updates will then be added beneath the embed as we are able to read through the decision and the dissenting opinions.
While waiting, two pieces over at SCOTUSBlog are must-reads.
A reader’s guide to health care ruling
Anticipating the health-care decision: In Plain English
Wall Street Journal reports that Barack Obama has prepared three separate speeches ahead of the ruling to address the final outcome.
Once the decision is posted, uploaded and embedded here, the updates will come fast with reactions and specific quotes from the decision, so refresh often.
Supreme Court Obamacare Decision
Developing......
Continuing this on the next post so this one doesn't get any more bogged down with more updates
Obamacare Upheld- What This Means For Conservatives: Obama Owns Biggest Middle Class Tax Hike In History
Conservatives- Do Not Blame The Supreme Court- It Was Obama/Democrats That Increased Everyone's Taxes
(Changes are being made to this post as the opinion is read)
