Even a solidly conservative Supreme Court could find a pretty easy path to preserve most of the Affordable Care Act — if it wants to.

The big picture: It’s too early to make any predictions about what the court will do, and no ACA lawsuit is ever entirely about the law. They have all been colored by the bitter political battles surrounding the ACA.

Health care was by far the dominant issue in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing yesterday for Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

The big picture: After promising for 10 years to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, and with a lawsuit pending at the Supreme Court that could do exactly that, Republicans are making a new argument: c’mon, nobody’s getting rid of the Affordable Care Act.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that she's not "hostile" toward the Affordable Care Act or any statute passed by Congress, defending a past writing in which she criticized Chief Justice John Roberts' opinion upholding the law.

Why it matters: Democrats' central message throughout the confirmation fight has been that Barrett was nominated in order to help President Trump and conservatives dismantle the ACA when the Supreme Court hears a lawsuit against it on Nov. 10.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) acknowledged on Monday that Democrats do not have "some secret, clever, procedural way to stop" the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, arguing that the only way for Americans to "change the trajectory of this nomination" is by voting.

The big picture: Klobuchar and other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee used day one of Barrett's confirmation hearings to criticize the process of rushing through a nomination after voting in the 2020 election has already begun, attacking it as a "sham" and "illegitimate."

A record 4.4. million children were without health insurance last year, an increase by about 320,000, an analysis of Census data shows.

Why it matters: After decades of decline, it's the third year in a row the nation has seen an increase in the number of uninsured children.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday called on Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett to commit to recusing herself from cases involving the Affordable Care Act and the 2020 election if confirmed.

Why it matters: Barrett wrote in 2017 that Chief Justice John Roberts betrayed the tenets of conservative legal analysis when he upheld the Affordable Care Act. The law will be back before the court in November. Democrats have made it central to their messaging that Barrett will try to invalidate the law if she is confirmed to the court.

Sen. Kamala Harris said at Wednesday's vice presidential debate that the Trump administration does not have a plan to protect health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, looking into the camera and declaring: "If you have a pre-existing condition — heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer — they're coming for you.

Why it matters: The Biden campaign has consistently sought to make the Trump administration-backed lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act — which protects coverage for pre-existing conditions — a core election message, particularly as the U.S. continues to struggle to control the pandemic. Health care has been proven to be one of the issues that resonates most with voters.

Six Republican senators, five of whom are up for re-election in 2020, sided with Democrats on Thursday in a procedural vote to block the Trump administration from supporting a lawsuit that would dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

Why it matters: The final vote on the motion was 51-43, failing to reach the necessary 60-vote threshold to pass. But the move by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) forced several vulnerable GOP senators to go on the record on whether they support the lawsuit, which could strip protections from pre-existing conditions for millions of Americans.