Federal judge strikes down Obamacare as unconstitutional, Trump praises decision

December 17, 2018 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal judge in Texas has struck down the whole of the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” as unconstitutional.
The ruling, which was issued Friday by Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court in Fort Worth, holds that the federal mandate requiring the purchase of health insurance is unconstitutional, and that as a consequence, the whole of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is legally invalid.
For now, according to the White House, the law will remain “in place” in expectation of appeals of the ruling.
The ruling came as the result of a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Republican governors and state attorneys general, which argued that the ACA’s mandate requiring the purchase of health care coverage had been rendered unconstitutional by the 2017 tax overhaul, which set the tax penalty for those who do not purchase such insurance to zero. The state officials contended that the elimination of the penalty nullified the effects of a 2012 Supreme Court ruling allowing the mandate and penalty.
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