catholic charities, they present an enormous amount of charitable programs and if you force them to violate the religious values, they ll shut down those programs because they re not going to violate their religious values. so the court s trying to get everyone here to try to find a middle ground. arthel: right. if you are part of the catholic charities organizations, you donate to them, you want your you uphold you re in sync with their values, you don t want your values sort of dismissed at the same time. so i get it. let s go to texas. the supreme court of the united states is in big trouble in texas for upholding obamacare, deciding that the affordable care act is constitutional. as you know, this is the third time the gop tried to get obamacare overturned. why are they upset? and will they try again? well, quite frankly i think a that they need to step back a bit about this case.
the one that the fifth circuit court of appeals recently declared that the affordable care act is constitutional. it says that the individual mandate is not. we have sent a bill to the senate to make it clear what the affordable care act is all about and what it would do for the vast majority of american people in need of health care. if mitch mcconnell will let that bill go forward we will be addressing what this court just told us we need to address. mitch mcconnell really ought to be ashamed of himself. we fix the health care hr 4 is passed, hr 3 reducing the price of prescription drugs, that s passed. all that is sitting in the senate and mitch mcconnell
democratic attorneys general to talk about that. with me now virginia ag. sir, thanks for being with us. let me start here. make your case. what are you going to do to try to defend this law today? well, there s a big hearing in new orleans today, and the stakes could not be higher. the trump administration and republican attorneys general are going to be in court trying to take health care away, argue to go a court that there should no longer be coverage for pre-existing conditions, that millions of americans should lose their health care, and the affordable care act should be ruled unconstitutional. now, we re going to be in there saying, no, the supreme court has already ruled not once but twice that the affordable care act is constitutional. and just to give you the compact of what could happen in virginia, 642,000 virginians could lose their health care if this decision is allowed to stand. millions of virginians suffer from some kind of pre-existing
they now want judges to do things that politics will not permit. we have heard a lot of legal analyst, and the doctor said he does not think it will be upheld on appeal, and supreme court ruled obamacare was constitutional, and it was based on the fact that the individual mandate penalty was a tax. now that the tax is gone do you have 100% confidence that this court as currently constituted with gorsuch and kavanaugh will uphold the legal gity of obamacare? this is such a crazy legal theory, the fifth circuit is going to overturn it and the supreme court will refuse to hear it because chief justice john roberts repeatedly said the affordable care act is
reporter: 2012 also marked a milestone in implementation of president obama s health care law. in a 5-4 decision back in june the u.s. supreme court ruled the major crux of obamacare, the individual mandate is indeed constitutional. i m happy. i m pleased, to see the supreme court put the rule of law ahead of partisanship and ruled that the affordable care act is constitutional. reporter: the decision was the result of lawsuits brought by 26 state attorneys general against the federal government who claimed mandated participation was a violation of american s freedom. republicans won t let up whatsoever in our determination to repeal this terrible law. reporter: there are still several outstanding suits challenging the law, meaning obamacare will still be a hot button issue into 2013. as 2012 winds down, it resembles 2011 with congressional republicans finishing out the year locked in another showdown with the white house over taxes and spending with the average family caught