The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the Affordable Care Act on Thursday in a decision that leaves the law intact and retains health care coverage for millions of Americans. The justices turned away a challenge from Republican-led states and the former Trump administration, which urged the justices to block the entire law.
The justices said that the challengers of the 2010 law did not have the legal right to bring the case. The Texas v. U.S. decision was just released. The Court held that the plaintiffs lacked standing.
Justice Stephen Breyer penned the decision, stating “We do not reach these questions of the Act’s validity, however, for Texas and the other plaintiffs in this suit lack the standing necessary to raise them.”
“For these reasons, we conclude that the plaintiffs in this suit failed to show a concrete, particularized injury fairly traceable to the defendants’ conduct in enforcing the specific statutory provision they attack as unconstitutional. They have failed to show that they have standing to attack as unconstitutional the Act’s minimum essential coverage provision. Therefore, we reverse the Fifth Circuit’s judgment in respect to standing, vacate the judgment, and remand the case with instructions to dismiss.”