WASHINGTON – Until six weeks ago, defenders of the Affordable Care Act could take comfort in some simple math.
Five Supreme Court justices who had twice preserved the Obama-era health care law remained on the bench and seemed unlikely votes to dismantle it.But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death in mid-September and her replacement by Amy Coney Barrett barely a month later have altered the equation as the court prepares to hear arguments Tuesday in the third major legal challenge in the law's 10-year existence.