Supreme Court Upholds Obama’s Health Care Law

The Obama administration got an enormous victory on Thursday when the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold the President’s signature achievement: the 2010 health care law.

And in a surprise to many court watchers, it was Chief Justice John Roberts who sided with the more liberal justices and wrote the majority opinion.

The central issue in the case was whether the individual mandate, which requires that all Americans must buy health insurance or face a penalty, was constitutional. Roberts wrote the mandate is not a valid exercise of Congress’ power to regulate commerce, but is a valid use of its taxing power.

“Simply put, Congress may tax and spend,” Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “This grant gives the federal government considerable influence even in areas where it cannot directly regulate.”

In addition, the Court limited a massive expansion of Medicaid, the federal program that provides health care to the poor, but did not strike it down.

Many congressional Republicans expected the court to strike down at least some parts of the law, and have now vowed to renew their efforts to repeal it.

This is a statement from Louisiana Govenor Bobby Jindal on the Health Care Ruling.

“Ironically, the Supreme Court has decided to be far more honest about Obamacare than Obama was. They rightly have called it a tax. Today’s on decision is a blow to our freedoms. The Court should have protected our constitutional freedoms, but remember it was the President that forced this law on us.

The American people did not want or approve of Obamacare then, and they do not now. Americans oppose it because it will decrease the quality of health care in America, raise taxes, cut Medicare, and break the bank. All of this is still true. Republicans must drive hard toward repeal, this is no time to go weak in the knees.”

[MSNBC]