Federal judge rules Affordable Care Act unconstitutional

FORT WORTH, Texas — A federal judge in Texas has ruled President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled Friday that last year’s tax overhaul knocked the constitutional foundation from under the health care act dubbed by critics as “Obamacare.”

O’Connor noted that the Supreme Court had ruled the law was constitutional only as an exercise of Congress’ power to tax, but last year’s bill eliminated that tax.