lawfag here with a summary of the court opinion striking down obamacare
its pretty straightforward - recall the big case when ocare passed where everyone watched as the decision was issued and first exclaimed it was struck down - well the firstr part of the roberts opinion did just that - SCOTUS ruled that the mandate was an UNCONSTITUTIONAL excercise of the commerce power - and that was 100% correct
within a few minutes however it was realized the law had been saved by a legal magic - SCOTUS declared that since the congress labeled it a TAX is was legal as congress power to tax is much broader than powrs under the commerce clause - so in effect it was a farce - congress cannot force people to buy insurance but they can force people to pay a tax penalty for not having it.
this turned out to be the key to its demise today - and is a huge victory for POTUS - because even though the individual mandate was NOT repealed POTUS DID get congress to elimiate the tax penalty in the 2017 tax bill.
So again - remember the Supreme Court held the Individual Mandate was unconstitutional under the Interstate Commerce Clause but could fairly be read as an exercise of Congress’s Tax Power because it triggered a tax.
BUT the 2017 tax law eliminated that tax. The Supreme
So until today the Individual Mandate continued to mandate the purchase of health insurance but THERE WAS NO MOAR TAX PENALTY. So that meant that the only basis for the mandate in the changed law was the Commerce Clause - NOW remember SCOTUS ruled that this was NOT a legal basis to support the mandate
BUT THAT WAS ALL THAT WAS LEFT - and so the court today simply concluded - NO TAX - NO MANDATE - they couched the decision under a legal doctrine known as "severability" which is a judicial doctrine that attempts to salvage a huge and complex congressional policy scheme (law) even when one portion is illegal.
specifically then - can Obamacare be upheld WITHOUT the unconstititional portion (the mandate based on cmmerce clause alone)? - they concluded NO - the TAX was an essential element upon which the entire structure rested and therefore the WHOLE thing must be thrown out.
WINNING
PS - whis will no doubt go to SCOTUS but the outcome is assured - NO WAY OUT - its toast