WASHINGTON (Nexstar) — On Tuesday, the nine Supreme Court justices will hear oral arguments in California v. Texas, a case looking to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
“During this time, awful time of COVID 19, of a pandemic, is about the worst time possible to be without access to a family physician and health insurance,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) said.
Republicans argue the legislation is unconstitutional. But Doggett says taking away health coverage during a health crisis would be devastating for the millions of Americans who rely on it.
“Those people who have been hospitalized, and sadly too many of them in our community, they come out of the hospital with some pretty big bills,” Doggett said.
This is the third time the ACA has been challenged in the High Court. This time it will be heard before the most conservative panel of justices the court has seen in decades.
“I am not hostile to the ACA,” newly-sworn in Justice Amy Coney Barrett said.
Last month, Senate Democrats grilled Barrett during her confirmation hearings about how she would rule, and if pressure from the president — a critic of the ACA — would impact her decision.
“I have had no conversations with anyone in the White House about that case. I am not sure—to the extent that there is a suggestion that I have an agenda that I want to strike down people’s protections for preexisting conditions—that is just not true,” she said.
Once oral arguments are over, a decision is expected by the end of June.