BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds Unpopular Health Care Law

After months of speculation, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s health care law as constitutional – as a tax. Compass Colorado issued a statement shortly after the ruling:

“This decision fundamentally alters the American way of life. President Obama’s federal government can now officially force any American to buy any product it pleases. This unprecedented decision by 5 unelected lawyers on the Supreme Court has put every Americans’ well-being under the thumb of big government and burdensome mandates. This is a sad day for American freedom and democracy.”

If Obamacare is a tax, it may just be the largest tax hike in the history of the United States, and not likely to improve its popularity among the electorate in a critical election. According to Real Clear Politics, the embattled law has never enjoyed a higher than 49% approval rating, and that was in June 2010. View the chart below to see the two-year history of the law’s approval ratings.

The real question is – does this open the door for additional litigation on other grounds? And, the Obama for America team must be wondering how badly this law, now a “tax”, will hurt Obama’s re-election chances.