Supreme Court upholds The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), informally referred to as Obamacare


Submitted by Kyle Burns


Springfield, MA -


Supreme Court upholds The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), informally referred to as Obamacare with a 5-4 decision, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts, citing that they upheld the law, not because of the individual mandate (which would have been unconstitutional), but because of the portion of the law which is considered a tax. However, several months ago in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, President Obama insisted that the law was not a tax, or a tax increase.

Originally the lawsuit sought to strike down the mandate in effect killing the remaining portion of the law which could not conceivably stand without the mandate. 


According to the opinion by the SCOTUS, the mandate would have failed under the commerce clause, so instead, the SCOTUS called the mandate a tax and allowed the law to stand under the guise that the US Government has a right to tax and spend as it pleases. This decision in effect breaks the pledge of no taxes for anyone earning under $250,000. Obama said in his speech that he pledges that under his plan no one will see a tax increase "not any of your taxes." Did he break his promise to the american people by passing Obamacare? 

The ruling is not a final stop on the road to Obamacare, as the Congress still has an option to repeal the law if it can muster up the support.