One lawyer's analysis:
"Important to note about the future of Obamacare:
1. It will be struck down in the 5th Circuit
2. If not, it goes to SCOTUS - Roberts was the swing vote in saving the ACA, not Kennedy (who was replaced by Kavanaugh)
3. Roberts called the ACA a constitutional mandate i.e. legal
"The Roberts ruling in support of the ACA (Obamacare) was that it WAS an individual mandate but the Constitution gives Congress broad power to raise taxes “for the general welfare.” So, Congress need not point to some other enumerated power to justify a tax.
"Those who opposed the ACA last time tried to call Obamacare a "penalty" and not a tax to strike it down. But Roberts found it would raise revenue, impose no sanction other than a tax and was calculated and collected by the IRS as part of the income tax, so he upheld the law.
"This latest TX ruling is based on the premise that the $0 penalty for failing to sign up for the ACA means that it can no longer be considered a tax & should not protected as such.
But this ruling is inconsistent with Robert's definition of the ACA & goes against precedent.
"So expect this latest ruling to proceed on appeal to the 5th Circuit District Court and if the ACA is not saved there, it will go to SCOTUS, where it [the Friday ruling] is not likely to be upheld. This TX ruling is wrong and not supported by precedent established by Roberts himself." - Amee Vanderpool
(Twitter thread starts here:
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