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The Biden administration just filed a letter to the Supreme Court clerk notifying the court that DOJ has changed its position in the Obamacare case.
After careful consideration, DOJ says it's now the position of the U.S. that the individual mandate is constitutional. And even if the court concludes it isn't, the ACA can survive without it.
Letter here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-840/168649/20210210151147983_19-840%2019-1019%20CA%20v%20TX.pdf
Letter here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-840/168649/20210210151147983_19-840%2019-1019%20CA%20v%20TX.pdf
Recap: The individual mandate is the provision that requires everyone to buy insurance or pay a tax penalty. Congress in 2017 dropped the penalty to $0. A group of Republican states led by Texas sued, arguing the mandate was no longer a valid exercise of Congress's taxing power.
The states argued the mandate is so essential to Obamacare that the rest of the provisions of the law can't function without it. If the mandate is unconstitutional, so is the rest of law, they said.
A group of Democratic states led by California and it's AG Xavier Becerra, who is now Biden's pick for HHS Secretary 
, jumped in to defend the law when DOJ under the Trump administration refused.
, jumped in to defend the law when DOJ under the Trump administration refused.
Because the court heard arguments three months ago, DOJ told the court in its letter today that it is not asking permission to file addition briefs arguing the case.
