Eight years ago, the Supreme Court barely upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, justifying the mandate’s penalty as a tax. Fast forward to 2020, and the Supreme Court is again deciding the fate of the individual mandate and, with it, the ACA as a whole. What is it precisely the Court is being asked to decide, and how is it likely to rule?

Ed and Scott jump in the wayback machine to revisit the ACA’s rocky past and “go back to the future” to discuss its perhaps not-so-uncertain fate.

• Will the Court’s current 6-3 conservative majority change the outcome of the 2012 decision? (Maybe … maybe not.)
• Why was Scott on Bourbon Street eight years ago when the Supreme Court handed down its earlier decision?
• What is “standing” and why is it so important? (Hint: In the legal world, it’s not the opposite of sitting.)
• What is “severability” and how might it keep the ACA alive?
• When can we expect the Court’s opinion?