In a stunning victory for the Obama administration, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 upheld the centerpiece of the nation’s new health care law the so-called individual mandate to buy insurance as a constitutional exercise of Congress’ taxing authority.
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., who wrote the Court’s opinion, secured the majority on the tax issue by joining with his more liberal colleagues justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.