Many are noting that there have been two camps developing among those who oppose the health control bill regarding the SCOTUS ruling yesterday. One thinks John Roberts is a genius, others are calling him a traitor.
My take is that we lost SCOTUS long ago as a guardian of the Constitution. So, I’m pretty much in a agreement with Rand Paul that it doesn’t matter what five (or even if it were nine) black-robed tyrants think about the Constitutionality of a law.
This ruling was no exception. An egregious example of how far SCOTUS has veered from the Constitution and from protecting individual liberty.
So, putting aside this poor ruling, admitting it is a loss as a whole, with the tiny victory of the Commerce Clause not being expanded any further, it is possible for Congress to act to put this human rights violation behind us.
It’s a strategy I hadn’t thought of, and will likely require a GOP President. Sadly, the presumptive nominee is such a wobbly-legged, political-wind-checker that it’s still no slam dunk. But since the court has put the lie to statement that this is not a tax, this can now be passed by the Senate with a simple 51-vote majority via the reconciliation process.
Thank you, Jim DeMint for being willing throw this back in the regressives’ faces. And since this is unequivocally a tax, now, the process is legitimate.
Take that, Pelosi. No pole vaulting or parachuting in this time.
On the bad side, the court did not say anything that could be taken as precedent NOT to expand the commerce clause abuse any further either.
If the decision were going to be 5-3 I could see Roberts going with the majority so he could write the opinion. Because it was 4-4 he WAS the majority…and IMO he failed miserably in his duty.
Agreed. Roberts failed us and this was a loss.
The silver lining I’m referring is that now that it is unquestionably a tax, it can be repealed without having to have a supermajority in the Senate.