Obama Health Care Win Cements Legacy In a Key Week for His Presidency

Derided as weak after his party's loss of Congress last year, the president has come roaring back with a year of achievements.

Obama Says Health Care Law `Here to Stay' After Ruling

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By Margaret Talev and Justin Sink

June 25, 2015 at 4:06 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he made a risky calculation: He used most of his political capital to get one cornerstone piece of legislation passed, an overhaul of federal laws expanding healthcare access and coverage. The Affordable Care Act came to be known by the nickname opponents gave it: Obamacare.

With the Supreme Court's unequivocal 6-3 opinion Thursday to uphold the law against a challenge from Republicans, the president's legacy is now affirmed, and by no less a figure than Chief Justice John Roberts — a conservative whose nomination Obama opposed as senator and who wrote the majority opinion affirming a key provision of a law that passed Congress without a single Republican vote.