Chief Justice John Roberts writes the majority opinion for the 5-4 majority.
View full sizePeople began to arrive before dawn today at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., ahead of the court's decision on President Barack Obama's health care law.The U.S. Supreme Court this morning upheld the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, the signature legislative achievement of the Barack Obama presidency, The Associated Press reports.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the 5-4 majority, ruled the mandate wasn't a "valid exercise" of the commerce clause in the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, CNN reported. But it is allowed under tax-writing provisions, Roberts wrote.
The law has withstood the challenge of several states attorneys general who sued after the law was passed.
The law, which includes the mandate for all Americans to obtain health insurance, immediately allowed children up to the age of 26 years old to stay on their parents' insurance and stopped health insurance companies from denying insurance to children with pre-existing conditions.
The entire law takes effect in 2014.
The law is expected to result in as many as 30 million Americans getting health insurance, many of them younger and healthier to offset the cost of insuring ill people who were previously denied coverage. People who didn't get health care were expected to be fined.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the 5-4 majority, ruled the mandate wasn't a "valid exercise" of the commerce clause in the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, CNN reported. But it is allowed under tax-writing provisions, Roberts wrote.
The law has withstood the challenge of several states attorneys general who sued after the law was passed.
The law, which includes the mandate for all Americans to obtain health insurance, immediately allowed children up to the age of 26 years old to stay on their parents' insurance and stopped health insurance companies from denying insurance to children with pre-existing conditions.
The entire law takes effect in 2014.
The law is expected to result in as many as 30 million Americans getting health insurance, many of them younger and healthier to offset the cost of insuring ill people who were previously denied coverage. People who didn't get health care were expected to be fined.