To the Editor:
The Democrats’ strategy opposing Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation is clear: raise the boogeyman that she will overturn the Affordable Care Act and millions will immediately lose their health insurance coverage. Nonsense.
First, the case before the court next month raises a different issue than the one Chief Justice John Roberts decided and she criticized. Second, she hasn’t read the briefs or heard oral arguments, and thus no one can predict her vote. Third, the court can strike the offending provision at issue and keep intact the provisions that the Democrats are wailing about, such as coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Finally, in the unlikely event the law were to be struck down in its entirety, the court can, and likely will, stay its decision to allow Congress time to remedy the statutory defect as it has done in other cases.
In short, the Sturm und Drang prediction by the Democrats regarding Judge Barrett’s future ruling on the A.C.A. sounds a false note.
Paul Kamenar
Chevy Chase, Md.
The writer is counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center.