Joe Biden, the Democrat nominee, on Wednesday accused President Donald Trump of only pushing Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation in order to “destroy” the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
“Look, Trump got this Supreme Court Justice passed,” the former vice president told supporters in Broward County, Florida. “He did it for one reason, to try and destroy the Affordable Care Act again.”
“If they get their way this time, 100 million Americans will lose their protection from pre-existing conditions,” Biden added.
The former vice president’s comments echo those Democrats made throughout Barrett’s confirmation hearings. Democrats have pointed to the Supreme Court’s upcoming case, California v. Texas, in suggesting that Barrett will rule that the ACA is unconstitutional.
As Breitbart News has noted, however, Barrett’s ascension to the nation’s highest court may not necessarily mean that the ACA will be struck down.
In the upcoming case, the states of Texas will argue that since Congress has repealed the law’s individual mandate, which was previously found constitutional on tax grounds, the ACA is no longer supported by the legislative branch’s authority to levy taxes. The argument rests, in part, on the fact that Congress when writing the ACA did not provide a severance clause—a provision that states if one part of the law is found unconstitutional the rest can still stand. As such, Texas will argue that the entire law should be struck down.
Although Barrett has not taken a particular stand on the issue in the past, most legal analysts say that even if she determines the ACA is unconstitutional, it does not necessarily mean the law will automatically be scrapped.
“The ACA, most likely, will not be struck down,” Jonathan Turley told Fox News earlier this month, arguing that Chief Justice Roberts, as well as Justice Brett Kavanaugh, would be likely to support keeping the ACA intact without the individual mandate.