President Joe Biden called the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act a “major victory” for former President Barack Obama’s signature achievement.
“Today’s decision affirms that the Affordable Care Act is stronger than ever, delivers for the American people, and gets us closer to fulfilling our moral obligation to ensure that, here in America, health care is a right and not a privilege,” Biden said in a statement on Thursday.
SUPREME COURT FINDS TEXAS HAS NO STANDING TO CHALLENGE OBAMACARE
This is the third challenge to Obamacare that has failed at the Supreme Court, prompting Biden to say he believes it is time to move on from trying to overturn it. Biden touted his administration’s American Rescue Plan, which originated in the coronavirus pandemic, as “building” on the landmark law.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra also praised the court for its decision.
“Health care should be a right — not a privilege — just for the healthy and wealthy,” he said in a statement.
This comes after the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision decided against determining whether Obamacare is unconstitutional on Thursday. In his majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the court only considered whether Texas, who brought the challenge along with former President Donald Trump and 17 other states, had standing to sue. The court found the state did not.
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Justice Clarence Thomas affirmed Breyer’s view, adding he did not think Obamacare was a good law considering how many times the court “has gone to great lengths to rescue the Act from its own text.”
“Today’s result is thus not the consequence of the Court once again rescuing the Act, but rather of us adjudicating the particular claims the plaintiffs chose to bring,” Thomas wrote.
