I’m currently on only the second real vacation that I’ve taken since my son was born five years ago, so it’s not a great time for me to be giving my opinion on things like free trade and important Supreme Court decisions. And I already told you that all the ink spilled (or electrons spent) on what would happen if the administration lost in King v. Burwell was wasted because it was never going to happen.
Well, I was right. The Court ruled six to three, quite predictably in my opinion, that the whole health insurance industry could not be put to the torch over some clerical sloppiness in the wording of the law.
If we’ve learned anything from this decision it is just how incredibly partisan the trio of Scalia, Alito, and Thomas are. They are truly radical, and Roberts and Kennedy go along with them much of the time. In fact, Roberts sided with these lunatics in another case announced this morning: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project. Fortunately, Justice Kennedy didn’t go along and there is still some hope that people can get some justice if they discover that they’ve been discriminated against in seeking housing.
The justices ruled 5-4 that federal housing laws prohibit seemingly neutral practices that harm minorities, even without proof of intentional discrimination. The case involved an appeal from Texas officials accused of violating the Fair Housing Act by awarding federal tax credits in a way that kept low-income housing out of white neighborhoods.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, often a swing vote, joined the court’s four liberal members in upholding the use of so-called “disparate impact” cases.
The Supreme Court is extremely conservative, but they still have one foot grounded in reality. That could easily change if just one more movement conservative is appointed to the Court.
You were right, BooMan.
You were right.
This is terrible! This institutionalizes the ACA!
How will we ever get to single payer now?
Kill the Bill!
A lot more easily than if it were struck down. The path is actually not all that challenging now. The ACA continues to operate as is for another 20 years of so until a strong Democratic congress is elected together with a Democratic president, and grass roots support for a public options begins to force its way into discussion.
Adding a public option to an existing framework threatens only the non-public insurance companies. It will inspire fears only among their shareholders, employees and right-wing cranks who listen to FoxNews.
I don’t see this happening under President Clinton. I don’t think Democrats have any appetite for such a fight right now or anywhere in the foreseeable future. But I predict the day will come. It could take the form of a Medicare buy-in. Then the U.S. will have entered the fraternity of western nations.
Please correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t they all confirmed by a Democratic Senate?
Yes, so filthy of the Democrats who had to bow to their betters: REPUGNANTS.
Had to?
Well, Mrs. Alito DID cry at the hearing….
Actually, both Scalia and Alito were confirmed when Republicans controlled the Senate.
Ah! Now I have a conflict between you and Quentin. I’ll have to look it up myself.
Yes, it was incredible that they even considered taking billions in business from the insurance companies. If they (the troika) had prevailed, I predict they would have found horse’s heads on their beds in the morning?
A though occurs to me, “Is this why Obama is pushing TPP? Have they threatened his family?”
True, but just because it would have been bad for the insurance companies doesn’t mean it would not have been bad for the rest of us. I’m really relieved Obamacare was left in tact. Now it can continue to take root and, after a time, we can turn our attention to improving it.
I’m getting a little tired of hearing the four sane justices called the “liberal members” of the court.
These days, “liberal” = sane…
Well, if you’re tired of that wait until you hear about the three sane justices on the court after the Democrats vote for the fourth crackpot.
So the baby that was being dangled over a running woodchipper has been set down safely and we’re all relieved. Makes you wonder though, about the mentality of the people who thought dangling it was any kind of a good idea in the first place.
Wasn’t it nice of the Court to rule in favor of sanity and reality? Yay Court! And wasn’t it nice of them to delay release of the opinion until the penultimate day, so that people didn’t have to spend another weekend wondering (after a year of wondering) if they were going to die in service to a typo? So very kind of them.
Remember, our corporate overlords can’t possibly rape, pillage and plunder if there’s any possibility of uncertainty in the future; but you worthless citizens can just hang fire for months on end to find out whether the Supreme Court has completely lost its mind or not. Because of freedom, if you must know.
Roberts is a movement conservative, but apparently his corporatism trumps all. On cultural issues, Roberts is firmly with the lunatic wing, as we can (for example) see in the housing rights case–and will see in the upcoming gutting of abortion rights next year. But it’s interesting that this manufactured anti-subsidy argument was a bridge too far for Obamacare-hatin’ Kennedy.
You correctly point out that there is no “conservative” legal argument, however preposterous and unsupportable, that the Court’s lunatic wing wouldn’t happily adopt as the law of the land—and these 3 votes were sadly also quite predictable. The lunatic wing is a national (and legal) disgrace and have now destroyed whatever vestige of integrity they imagined they still possessed. They will simply say anything the movement asks of them, no questions asked.
I think you’re basically correct. I’m an attorney. When my daughter was in law school, the court was hearing the first Obamacare case, the one that was scariest of all because the program could have been reduced to ashes before it ever went into effect, leaving the idea of universal healthcare out in the cold for another generation or two. At the time I predicted to my daughter that Roberts would side with the four liberal justices because striking down this law would undermine the court’s credibility without benefiting his true constituency, the fat cats.
These days one never knows. I mean, I did not expect Bush v. Gore to go the way it did. The result was so shocking, I’ll never predict any court decision with certainty. But I thought there was a good chance this case would go the way that it did, as did many of us, 6-3, with only the lunatic fringe lining up behind their bloviator, Fat Tony.
I simply don’t think that Roberts wanted his court to go down in history as the one that took down Obamacare. I’ve no doubt that he would prefer that Congress do it without the court’s intervention.
Have to wonder how that came down behind closed doors. Roberts clearly had one foot on the side of the ACA with his 2012 decision on mandates. Was he inclined to keep his foot on that side in King and Kennedy chose to join him? Or had Kennedy flipped and Roberts decided he might as well show some consistency on the ACA?
The decision in favor “Inclusive Communities” reinforces that Roberts doesn’t possess much of a social conscience.
Even though I saw this coming, there was no way to be certain. And while the excruciating position of the Republicans would have been fun to watch, in truth I’m happy it didn’t go that way. I’m relieved for all the people who’s health would have been placed at risk. I’m relieved for the entire country that the gains of this unique time (a 60 seat majority made possible by one of the worst presidencies in history) wasn’t squandered. I’m relieved too that the crown jewel of Obama’s legacy was not destabilized.
Now I’ll spend my day happily reading comments of freepers and redstaters, delighting in the spectacle of so many tiny head explosions — a celebration worth of the upcoming July 4th holiday.
Well one out of two ain’t bad. But I connfess I don’t know which one I’d rather you be mistaken on.
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