‘Clearly Unconstitutional’: 2 Justices Issue Dissent in Supreme Court’s Obamacare Ruling

Seated from left: Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, standing from left: Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett pose during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington on April 23, 2021. Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare, describing the mandate as “clearly unconstitutional.”

The Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that the plaintiffs, 18 Republican-led states, lacked the standing to challenge the federal health care law. The states had wanted the Supreme Court to overturn the law because its “individual mandate” was set to zero by former President Donald Trump, saying that the entire law was unconstitutional.