CNN.com reported Tuesday that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has had enough of the Affordable Care Act for the rest of his career on the bench.
His message to the parties involved in the latest Obamacare lawsuit was, "stop."
"Stop asking the justices to do the work of Congress," CNN reported. "Stop pulling the court into the partisan fracas. And perhaps especially, stop forcing this chief justice to return to the days when, as Roberts said Tuesday, 'we spent all that time talking about broccoli.'"
There has been a dramatic shift in the court since the past Obamacare lawsuit, and it's a reason that President Donald Trump and his GOP allies have tried to get rid of the law using the court a second time.
The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat just weeks before an election was something the Republicans pledged never to do.
"But his role as chief justice still gives him a commanding presence and, as demonstrated in his questions to lawyers during the two-hour teleconference hearing, he continues to seek ways to minimize differences and -- for now at least -- avoid blockbuster rulings," said CNN. "The cautious, strategic Roberts does not want the court to drive someone else's policy agenda, for example, by killing Obamacare when Trump and congressional Republicans failed."
Roberts said about the members of Congress: "I think, frankly, that they wanted the court to do that, but that's not our job."
Republicans have been unable to eliminate the Affordable Care Act after ten years of work, in large part because they haven't been able to craft a replacement.
"And here, Congress left the rest of the law intact when it lowered the penalty to zero. That seems to be compelling evidence on the question," said Roberts at one point.
Three other justices who upheld the law in the past asked questions indicated that they would vote to uphold the law again.
"Justice Brett Kavanaugh (a 2018 Trump appointee) said he found 'a very straightforward case' for excising the mandate and leaving the rest of the ACA in place," said CNN. It's certainly not a decision that President Donald Trump will appreciate.
