Obamacare and the Supreme Court

[LA Ute]

I have a question for you Reverand. How can the Interstate Commerce Clause support the Civil Rights Act's prohibition on a greasy spoon in Mississippi denying service to blacks but not the mandate? How can it support the EPA but not the mandate? Don't say you don't support these other laws either. What about Stare Decisis?

Read the majority opinion. Pages 31-32 explain why the individual mandate is a tax. The previous pages explain why, in SCOTUS's view, the mandate is not a permissible exercise of the commerce clause. It's not just my opinion, it's the Court's. By the way, the majority opinion is very well-written and easy to understand.

[All-American]

I love the lawyers discussing the minutae here. You guys miss the forest for the trees. The whole idea of the constitution was to establish a strong but limited central government. Today, unless strictly prohibited in the Bill of Rights (and even that is iffy), there is essentially no limit to federal power.

So we praise Roberts judicial modesty. Sometimes, judicial activism is a good thing when it involves reigning in a congress and president who have exceeded the limits of their authority.

I wouldn't call this ruling a sea change, merely a confirmation of what I already knew to be true. Enumerated powers are a joke, the commerce clause is a joke. Everything we do affects commerce in some fashion, so congress can regulate anything essentially in any aspect of anyone's life. EVERYTHING is political. There is no standard, the constitution can mean whatever we want it to mean. It's a worthless piece of paper. McNaughton is cheesy, but he's right.

The glass isn't as empty as you're making it out to be. The Court has once again found a limit to Congress's exercise of power under the commerce clause. When Scalia visited Chicago earlier this year, he guessed that Lopez, the most important case limiting Congress's commerce clause power to date, would be but a bump in the road to the inevitable expansion. With this decision, we now have a trend going in the opposite direction.

Congress had the power in 1787 to pass bad laws and impose excessive taxes. If that's what they did here, then there is a solution to that, too.

[All-American]

[UtahDan]

I can understand people not liking this. I can understand people not liking the legislation. What I can't understand is people placing this in some larger narrative where the constitution has just been destroyed or this represents some massive shift. It's an important decision but the battle some people seem to think they are fighting was lost when the New Deal legislation was upheld back when LA was in law school. I think for some people the real issue is their belief that it is a quasi-holy text and that changing it (which is precisely what has allowed it last to so long) just can't be good. Must be part of some bigger more important end of days picture. Yeesh. Forgive me, I have been reading my facebook feed.

[UtahDan]

By the way I would be curious to know whether LA can give a very high level/big picture comment about how this effects his clients.

[byu71]

I can understand people not liking this. I can understand people not liking the legislation. What I can't understand is people placing this in some larger narrative where the constitution has just been destroyed or this represents some massive shift. It's an important decision but the battle some people seem to think they are fighting was lost when the New Deal legislation was upheld back when LA was in law school. I think for some people the real issue is their belief that it is a quasi-holy text and that changing it (which is precisely what has allowed it last to so long) just can't be good. Must be part of some bigger more important end of days picture. Yeesh. Forgive me, I have been reading my facebook feed.

I don't see this as a devilish thing orchestrated by the minions of satan.

I just see it as incredible mismanagement.

[UtahDan]

I don't see this as a devilish thing orchestrated by the minions of satan.

I just see it as incredible mismanagement.

Where have your powers of discernment gone, man?!?!

[Y84it]

I don't see this as a devilish thing orchestrated by the minions of satan.

I just see it as incredible mismanagement.

Couldn't say it better myself. However, Hell was paved with good intentions.

[RobinFinderson]

No jigs here, but it is a relief to know what tools we (as a nation) are going to be working with to solve the health care problem. I was never a fan of the mandate, and felt that it gave the congress cover to ditch modest single-payer with supplementary insurance for people who want more than modest care. That is the system I would have preferred.

It will be interesting to see how this shapes the insurance market. How do they react to Ted's choice to sign up for care on the way to the hospital? Create a 30-day application process? Who knows? But the inability to turn away people because of preexisting conditions seems like a total market changer.

[Tex]

It becomes easier to explain when one considers the alternative: a good man but one who, in the meltdown in the second half of 2008, admitted he knew nothing about economics, offered no guidance or suggestions on how to stop the hemorraging, gave the people little hope for a change (even if the hope instilled by his opponent was illusory), and thought Sarah Palin would be the best possible choice as his successor.

There is no excuse for it. Then or now. Hang your head in shame.

[TripletDaddy]

I can understand people not liking this. I can understand people not liking the legislation. What I can't understand is people placing this in some larger narrative where the constitution has just been destroyed or this represents some massive shift. It's an important decision but the battle some people seem to think they are fighting was lost when the New Deal legislation was upheld back when LA was in law school. I think for some people the real issue is their belief that it is a quasi-holy text and that changing it (which is precisely what has allowed it last to so long) just can't be good. Must be part of some bigger more important end of days picture. Yeesh. Forgive me, I have been reading my facebook feed.

I agree. So much blathering on about the end of our lives and freedom and all that jazz. Yawn. People get so up in arms and melodramatic when it comes to politics.

[Tex]

I can understand people not liking this. I can understand people not liking the legislation. What I can't understand is people placing this in some larger narrative where the constitution has just been destroyed or this represents some massive shift. It's an important decision but the battle some people seem to think they are fighting was lost when the New Deal legislation was upheld back when LA was in law school. I think for some people the real issue is their belief that it is a quasi-holy text and that changing it (which is precisely what has allowed it last to so long) just can't be good. Must be part of some bigger more important end of days picture. Yeesh. Forgive me, I have been reading my facebook feed.

I agree. So much blathering on about the end of our lives and freedom and all that jazz. Yawn. People get so up in arms and melodramatic when it comes to politics.

Good thing that doesn't happen here when the Big 12 comes up.

[All-American]

Good thing that doesn't happen here when the Big 12 comes up.

We only get riled up for the truly important things.

[SeattleUte]

I agree. So much blathering on about the end of our lives and freedom and all that jazz. Yawn. People get so up in arms and melodramatic when it comes to politics.

Really, as a practical matter I feel more directly instrusion including in truly offensive and stupid ways by state and local government. After all, state government already has insurance mandates (not saying those are necessarily stupid laws).

[byu71]

I agree. So much blathering on about the end of our lives and freedom and all that jazz. Yawn. People get so up in arms and melodramatic when it comes to politics.

Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Israel, etc. all have forms of socialism.

I still think our system is far superior and you only need to look to where most all of the innovation comes from, but at the same time living in those countries isn't like living in hell.

If the Obamaites get more powerful and more powerful over time, I will encourage my grandkids to work for the government and enjoy the good life. The stress the comes with making big money won't be worth it.