While the Supreme Court upheld the healthcare law on June 28, 2012, it validated the argument made by the 26 states that the federal government had overreached its authority by enacting the measure.
In writing the opinion for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts stated that the federal government has no authority to require people to buy health insurance under the interstate commerce clause in the Constitution. He went on to write that the law is constitutional based only on the government’s power to tax people who chose not to buy insurance.
The states also prevailed on their claim that Congress cannot coerce states into accepting a massive and unaffordable expansion of the Medicaid program.
View the Supreme Court’s ruling
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