Could a federal judge in Texas be the catalyst that finally brings down the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a law that has withstood countless assaults from Republicans in Congress and two Supreme Court challenges? On the morning after Judge Reed O’Connor’s startling ruling that struck down the landmark health law, legal scholars were doubtful. Lawyers on both sides of previous ACA battles said the reasoning behind this one was badly flawed, notably in its insistence that the entire 2010 law must fall because one of its provisions may have been rendered invalid by the 2017 tax overhaul legislation. (Jan Hoffman, Robert Pear, and Adam Liptak, New York Times)