Conservative WSJ editorial board warns Obamacare ruling could backfire spectacularly on Trump and GOP

The right-wing Wall Street Journal editorial page has published a brutal take down of Judge Reed O’Connor's ruling last week that declared the entirety of the Affordable Care Act -- a.k.a., "Obamacare" -- unconstitutional.

Even though the editorial board maintains that it is fiercely opposed to the law, it says that Judge O'Connor's ruling is built on a flimsy legal foundation and will likely be overturned by other courts.

"The Supreme Court’s 'severability' doctrine calls for restraint in declaring an entire law illegal merely because one part of it is," the editors write. "Our guess is that even the right-leaning Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judges will overturn Judge O’Connor on this point."

If this happens, they warn, Republicans who cheered on O'Connor's ruling will once again be caught flat-footed and be put on the defensive.

"Democrats claim to be alarmed by the ruling but the truth is they’re elated," the editors write. "They want to use it to further pound Republicans for denying health insurance for pre-existing conditions if the law is overturned. Democrats campaigned across the country against Mr. Paxton’s lawsuit to gain House and Senate seats in November, and they will now press votes in Congress so they can compound the gains in 2020."

The editors also slam President Donald Trump for praising O'Connor's ruling, which they argue will give further fodder to his political foes.

"President Trump hailed the ruling in a tweet, but he has never understood the Affordable Care Act," they write.

Read the whole editorial here.