WASHINGTON (MCT) — The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of President Obama’s health-care law Thursday, ruling the government may impose tax penalties on people who do not have health insurance.

The court’s long-awaited ruling rejected a broad legal attack on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act brought by Republican state officials and the National Federation of Independent Business.

The legal challenge focused on the law’s so-called mandate that all must have insurance by 2014 or pay a tax penalty.