The Trump administration on Monday said the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down, in a dramatic reversal.
In a letter Monday night, the administration said: "it is not urging that any portion of the district court's judgment be reversed."
"The Department of Justice has determined that the district court's comprehensive opinion came to the correct conclusion and will support it on appeal," said Kerri Kupec, spokesperson for the Justice Department.
The Trump administration would not defend the law in court so a coalition of 21 Democratic states led by California stepped in.
"This lawsuit is as dangerous as it is reckless. It threatens the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans across the country -- from California to Kentucky and all the way to Maine," said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a statement. "The Affordable Care Act is an integral part of our healthcare system. ... Because no American should fear losing healthcare, we will defend the ACA every step of the way."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the administration's stance amounted to "all-out war on the health care of the American people."
"On the very first day that the Democratic Majority held the gavel, the House of Representatives voted to intervene against Republicans' monstrous health care lawsuit to defend people with pre-existing conditions and the health care of all Americans," Pelosi said in a statement. "While the Trump Administration broadens its monstrous ambitions from destroying protections for pre-existing conditions to tearing down every last benefit and protection the Affordable Care Act provides, Democrats are fiercely defending the law of the land and protecting all Americans' health care."
Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, became the first 2020 candidate to weigh in on the filing with her criticism Monday night. During Attorney General William Barr's confirmation hearing in January, Harris asked him whether he was open to reconsidering the department's position. He replied: "Yes."
"Trump and his administration are trying to take health care away from tens of millions of Americans — again," Harris wrote in a tweet. "We must fight back again with everything we've got. And in 2020, we need to elect a president who will make health care a right."
