This Texas lawsuit could spell the end of ObamaCare

ObamaCare is facing yet another hurdle.

Arguments in a Texas lawsuit aimed at overturning the Affordable Care Act start Wednesday, and they could halt enforcement of the law before the case is even decided. Republican governors and attorneys general launched the suit in an attempt to declare ObamaCare unconstitutional, and Democratic attorneys general will fight back, per Stat.

ObamaCare allows the government to levy an extra tax on people without health insurance — a provision upheld by the Supreme Court in a 2012 decision. Congress' taxation powers backed up this individual mandate, the court decided.

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But the Republican tax bill passed in December eliminated the individual mandate, prompting 20 Republican governors and attorneys general to bring a suit in February that argues that the tax provision now invalidates the entire health-care law, per The New York Times. The U.S. government is the defendant in the case, but the Trump administration opted out of defending ObamaCare while also saying the whole law shouldn't be overturned. That led 16 other states to band together to protect ObamaCare in the case, officially dubbed Texas v. United States.

The GOP-led plaintiffs will argue Wednesday for a preliminary injunction banning enforcement of the law while the case continues, the Times says. And with appeals that could return ObamaCare to the Supreme Court, the whole affair could span years. Read more at The New York Times.