In one of the most controversial and closely watched cases in decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld1 the constitutionality of most of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA),2 President Barack Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment. While the court disposed of various legal and constitutional challenges to the ACA, the decision’s larger significance cannot be understated, since it also addressed the limits of congressional authority under the Constitution, re-affirmed state sovereignty, and threw a potential hot potato into the presidential race.
The shifting coalitions of the justices in deciding the various issues presented were also nothing short of remarkable, as was how Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. navigated the court in reaching the outcome. What follows are some of the highlights of the nearly 200-page decision.
