Trump's pick for AG was at the forefront of a 2012 Supreme Court challenge to the Affordable Care Act

Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, who Donald Trump has selected as his attorney general pick, was at the vanguard of the 2012 Supreme Court challenge to President Barack Obama’s health care law and could now be positioned to work to undercut the Affordable Care Act again.

Back in February 2011, when Republican state officials across the country were racing to be the first to test Obamacare at the high court, Bondi and other Florida state attorneys flew to Washington, DC, to screen powerhouse appellate lawyers to represent the state.

As Bondi recounted at the time, she borrowed a conference room at the Washington law firm where her brother was a partner to quickly interview leading candidates. The Florida team selected Paul Clement, a former US solicitor general to President George W. Bush, and they were able to position their case at the forefront of nationwide litigation.

“He shared our passion, and he was confident we could win,” Bondi told me of Clement at the time (when I was a writer for Reuters). They negotiated a $250,000 flat rate that was then split among the state challengers.

In the end, Florida and the other GOP-led states narrowly lost their case at the Supreme Court in June 2012. The 5-4 decision to uphold the ACA almost went the opposite way. Chief Justice John Roberts switched his vote late in the private negotiations, giving the administration the win.

Though repealing the Affordable Care Act was a top priority of Trump in his first term, the president-elect moved away from vowing to dismantle the landmark health reform law in his 2024 campaign. However, he did repeatedly promise to improve Obamacare — though when asked for details in a September debate, he said he had “concepts of a plan.”