As predicted in these pages barely one year ago (see A.M. Sabino & J.N. Sabino, "Anticipating Another Supreme Court Test for the Affordable Care Act," 261 New York Law Journal p. 4, cl. 4 (Jan. 24, 2019) ("Anticipating Another Test")), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is once again to be tested before the United States Supreme Court. This was inevitable, once the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court decision declaring the health care law unconstitutional. The tribunal's affirmance was grounded upon the fact that in 2017 Congress stripped the health care law of its taxing proviso, the so-called "individual mandate," the solitary ground for the ACA's constitutionality, as affirmed by the high court nearly a decade ago in National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. 519 (2012) (NFIB).

This latest chapter in the health care law's contentious journey is captioned Texas v. United States, ___ F.3d ___ (No. 19-10011) (5th Cir. Dec. 18, 2019). A petition for certiorari is already pending before the Supreme Court, U.S. House of Representatives v. Texas, No. 19-841, and, as of press time, it appears the Justices have the matter scheduled for conference before the end of this month, at which time we will learn whether there shall be review by the high court or if the matter shall be remanded back to the Texas district judge for further proceedings.