Nancy Pelosi in Supreme Court 2020s

On Health Care: Individual mandate is constitutional even with $0 tax

Vox.com summary:The CA v. TX case was brought by Texas officials who object to ObamaCare, centered on the law's individual mandate [which] required most Americans to either obtain health insurance or pay higher taxes. In 2017, Congress amended ObamaCare to zero out this tax. The Texas plaintiffs claimed that this zeroed-out tax is unconstitutional and also claimed that the entire law must be declared invalid if the zero dollar tax is stuck down. In a 7-2 ruling, the Court ruled that no one is allowed to bring suit to challenge a provision of law that does nothing.

Pelosi in Reuters:House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the ruling a "landmark victory for Democrats' work to defend protections for people with pre-existing conditions against Republicans' relentless efforts to dismantle them." President Biden and other Democrats had criticized Republican efforts to strike down the law at a time when the United States was grappling with a deadly coronavirus pandemic.

On Civil Rights: Ending LGBTQ job discrimination a victory for our democracy

The transgender case ruled on by the court involved Aimee Stephens, who was dismissed from her job at a Michigan funeral home two weeks after she told the company she was transgender. Her boss explained she failed to follow the dress code.

The Trump administration had urged the court to rule that Title VII does not cover cases like these. "The ordinary meaning of 'sex' is biologically male or female; it does not include sexual orientation,"

Democratic leaders also praised the decision, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calling it "a victory for the LGBTQ community, for our democracy and for our fundamental values of equality and justice for all."