While Democrats Argue Barrett Will Kill Obamacare, Legal Experts Are Skeptical

Democrats zeroed in on the Affordable Care Act in the first day of hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, arguing that her confirmation would mean Obamacare's swift defeat when the Supreme Court hears a case on its constitutionality next month. But conservative legal experts say Barrett is unlikely to invalidate the law.

Dangling the prospect that Barrett would kill Obamacare has become the centerpiece of Democratic attacks on her. Senate Democrats on Monday repeatedly alleged that if confirmed, Barrett would join her conservative colleagues on the Court to strike down one of their signature legislative accomplishments. Liberal activist groups and Democrats, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, have in recent weeks said the same thing.

But multiple right-leaning legal experts with a close eye on the case and the Court's conservative wing told the Washington Free Beacon that they see the situation differently. Rather than strike down the Affordable Care Act, they expect that the Court's majority will void the law's individual mandate alone, or reject the case entirely, concluding that the plaintiffs lack the legal right to sue.

They say that the Democrats' argument is misleading at best and "shameful" at worst, with one telling the Free Beacon, "It's so ridiculous that I don't even like giving oxygen to it."
At Monday's confirmation hearings virtually every committee Democrat mentioned Barrett's alleged threat to Obamacare. Ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), for example, claimed that "health care coverage for millions of Americans is at stake with this nominee," while Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) began his remarks with the story of a 10-year-old boy who he claimed could lose life-saving medical care if Barrett is confirmed.

Those attacks are part of the anti-Barrett strategy adopted by Democrats wary of attacking her sterling academic and personal qualifications. In his statement on Barrett's nomination, Biden alluded to Barrett's threat to Obamacare repeatedly, mentioning the actual nominee's name only once. He also repeatedly raised the possibility of repeal during the recent presidential debate.

Liberal activists, such as progressive dark-money group Demand Justice, have also taken up the cry. So too have commentators such as CNN's Joan Biskupic, who extensively insinuated that Barrett would vote down the ACA, failing to disclose that she served alongside Barrett on a mock trial court in which the latter actually voted to uphold Obamacare. (Biskupic did not respond to a request for comment as to why she did not disclose this information by press time.)