Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG, was a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She has passed away today. Which means that she will need to be replaced.
==The effect of her passing away==
This can very well spell the end of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the closest thing the United States has to universal health care. There has been a case, California vs. Texas, which is attempting to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act ever since the Republican-controlled congress removed the individual mandate (well, made its penalty $0).
The last time we had a case go to the Supremes to try and repeal the ACA was in 2015 with King v. Burwell, when Roberts and Kennedy sided with the liberal wing of the Supreme court to keep the ACA the law of the land.
Oral arguments in the Supreme court for California v. Texas are set for November 10 this year (very conveniently after the election); I would not put it past the Republican party to quickly confirm someone who will vote to take away health care from millions of Americans in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis.
Just when I thought 2020 would get no worse, this happened.
==How this affects the Senate==
Before Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, it was flip of the coin whether the Democrats or Republicans would get the Senate. Depending on how the Senate handles selecting her replacement, this may tilt the balance towards the Democrats. Since, in 2016, the Republican controlled senate refused to even consider Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court, one Merrick Garland, it will look downright hypocritical for them to ram through a justice now, which can very well energize enough voters on the fence to vote Democrat for the Senate on November 3rd.
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