(CNN) A federal judge in Texas said on Friday that the Affordable Care Act's individual coverage mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of the law therefore cannot stand. In his opinion, District Judge Reed O'Connor said the "Individual Mandate can no longer be fairly read as an exercise of Congress's Tax Power and is still impermissible under the Interstate Commerce Clause—meaning the Individual Mandate is unconstitutional." He also held that the individual mandate is "essential to and inseverable from the remainder of the ACA." "Judge O'Connor has declared the individual mandate unconstitutional and the rest of the Affordable Care Act invalid, but he has not blocked its continued operation," Jost said. It's no wonder that politicians on both sides of the aisle promised to protect those with pre-existing conditions during the election.

Source: CNN December 15, 2018 01:46 UTC