Supreme Court backs Obamacare for the third time against harassment by Republicans

By Pete Williams - NBC News

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Thursday that the Affordable Care Act, known as

Obamacare, remains valid,

rejecting a claim by a group of conservative states that a recent change to the law made it unconstitutional.

Republicans have long opposed the law, former President Barack Obama's flagship legislation.

But

more than 20 million Americans now depend on it for their health insurance,

and there is broad public support for its requirement that insurance companies must cover pre-existing health conditions.

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The law's challengers, 18 Republican states led by Texas, urged the court to rule that Obamacare's requirement that nearly

all Americans obtain health insurance or pay an income tax penalty, known as an individual mandate,

is unconstitutional.

For that reason, they said, the entire law must be eliminated.

But in the decision, Judge Stephen Breyer said the states have no standing to challenge the individual mandate "because

they have not demonstrated past or future harm

that can be fairly traced to the conduct of defendants applying the provision. specific statutory attack as unconstitutional. "