Will all the Democratic Party luminaries who claimed Barrett’s confirmation would mean the end of the health-care law now apologize?
Will all the Democratic Party luminaries who claimed Barrett’s confirmation would mean the end of the health-care law now apologize?
T he U.S. Supreme Court saved the Affordable Care Act yet again this morning, and it wasn’t close. By a 7–2 vote, with only Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissenting, the Court concluded that the challengers to Obamacare in California v. Texas did not have standing to sue over the individual mandate now that the mandate has been stripped of its monetary penalty.
This is not what Democrats told us would happen. With great certainty and prodigious huffing and puffing, the leading lights of the Democratic Party assured us that the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court would be the end of Obamacare. It was the core of their campaign-season message against her. Today, Justice Barrett voted with the majority. Will any of these people apologize? Let’s call the roll:
This nominee has said she wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act — this president wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. Let’s keep our eye on the ball. This is about less than one month [in which] Americans are going to lose their health insurance.
As Ramesh Ponnuru noted at the time, “Biden’s official statement on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett mentions her name once. It mentions Roe v. Wade once. It has eight sentences alluding to the court’s pending case on the Affordable Care Act.”
President Trump and his party and Judge Barrett will overturn the Affordable Care Act.
More Harris:
From day one, President Trump made clear that he had a litmus test for Supreme Court Justices – destroy the Affordable Care Act’s protections for people with preexisting conditions and overturn our right to make our own health care decisions. . . . Republicans are desperate to get Judge Barrett confirmed before the Supreme Court takes up this case in November and millions of Americans will suffer for their power play.
Chuck Schumer said that Barrett has “clearly said she’d strike down the Affordable Care Act,” and added:
A vote for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to eliminate health care for millions in the middle of a pandemic. . . . The American people should make no mistake—a vote by any Senator for Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions.
Schumer also claimed that Barrett should not even hear the case on the grounds that she has “serious conflicts of interest” and her record and previous statements “raise serious questions as to whether she can rule fairly at all.” Writing to his Democratic Senate colleagues, Schumer made explicit that this emphasis was political strategy: “We must focus like a laser on health care because Judge Barrett’s record is so clear on this issue.”
[Barrett’s] nomination threatens the destruction of life-saving protections for 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions together with every other benefit and protection of the Affordable Care Act.
She is being sent on assignment to the Supreme Court by President Trump. And we know what that assignment is, eliminate the Affordable Care Act.
Durbin also claimed that the “Rush To Confirm Judge Barrett Is About Eliminating The Affordable Care Act” and managed to get the timetable of the decision totally wrong:
If we vote under Senator McConnell’s timetable, on or before the election on November 3, then the new Supreme Court Justice, sworn in and in her black robe, ascends to the bench in the Supreme Court on November 10, listens to the oral argument on the Affordable Care Act, and then a few weeks or months later puts an end to it.
Sheldon Whitehouse, who will never be outdone when it comes to hysterical rhetoric and conspiracy-mongering:
This Supreme Court nominee has signaled in the judicial equivalent of all caps that she believes the Affordable Care Act must go, and that the precedent protecting the ACA doesn’t matter. The big secret to influences behind this unseemly rush see this nominee as a judicial torpedo they are firing at the ACA.
Elizabeth Warren:
We know Trump will pick a Supreme Court nominee who will deliver the death blow to the Affordable Care Act and rip health care away from millions of people during a deadly pandemic. We know it because he’s already in court demanding this. https://t.co/hh4R1brRM4
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 26, 2020
Chris Coons:
In just 15 days, Republicans will argue before the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act. Millions of Americans could lose coverage or protections. A vote for Judge Barrett is a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. #WhatsAtStake https://t.co/I2pCFjh8fm
— Senator Chris Coons (@ChrisCoons) October 26, 2020
And, bringing up the rear as always, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “Confirming Amy Coney Barrett will be the end of the Affordable Care Act”
Wrong. Flatly wrong, every last one of them.