The United States suffered a daily record for new coronavirus cases Thursday, with 40,401 positive tests confirmed, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. On the same day, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, which hundreds of thousands of Americans have turned to for health-care coverage and protection for pre-existing conditions during the pandemic. In a late-night filing, government lawyers argued that “the entire ACA must fall” because one of its core provisions, the individual mandate, is unconstitutional, which they say makes the rest of the law invalid. Democrats reacted angrily to the move, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying: “President Trump and the Republicans’ campaign to rip away the protections and benefits of the Affordable Care Act in the middle of the coronavirus crisis is an act of unfathomable cruelty.” Oral arguments are scheduled for next term, but it’s not clear if that’ll happen before the election. A decision in the case might not come until 2021.
