Obamacare ruling offers good possibilities, but no substitute for a win
Generals are often accused of “fighting the last war.” After Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare, conservatives are asked to pin our hopes on the notion Chief Justice John Roberts was fighting the next war.
This is a tempting proposition. There is the fact Roberts, in the main opinion of the court, and the four dissenting justices endorsed a limit to the power Congress wields under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. As this was the key judicial theory advanced by the law’s opponents, one that sought to halt a decades-long expansion of the meaning of “regulating” interstate commerce, that is no minor feat. It could even provide the starting point one day for further rollbacks of bad Commerce Clause precedent, starting with the awful 1942 Wickard decision that found a farmer affected interstate commerce by growing his own wheat.
There is also the fact the court’s majority decided the “penalty” for non-compliance with Obamacare’s individual mandate to purchase health insurance is really a “tax.” While this contradicts Congress’ actions and the president’s words during the 2009-10 health-care debate, it has the benefit of making it easier to repeal the law. As a budgetary matter, this “tax” — and Obamacare’s other taxes and spending — should be subject to the Senate’s reconciliation process, to which the filibuster does not apply. So, there’s no requirement for 60 votes in the Senate to remove the heart and guts of the law, just a simple majority.
And there is the fact that Roberts’ surprising vote on Obamacare averted the torrent of purely partisan criticism Democrats and liberals were set to unleash had a majority of the court struck down the law, accusing Roberts and his colleagues of — wait for it — partisanship. His court’s integrity intact, perhaps Roberts will be freer in lower-profile future cases to strike blows for the causes of federalism and limited government.
All these thoughts are pleasing to the conservative mind.
But if Roberts’ ruling can cite Benjamin Franklin’s aphorism about the certainty of death and taxes, allow me to caution against too rosy a view of his ruling with another saying: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Maybe the Roberts court will reinforce federalist principles in future cases. Then again, maybe the facts and circumstances of these future cases won’t cooperate. Or maybe the cases won’t emerge before the Commerce Clause-limiting wing of the court changes for the worse: Antonin Scalia is 76, Anthony Kennedy turns 76 this month, and there are at least even odds Barack Obama will be making court appointments past their 80th birthdays.
Speaking of elections: Maybe Mitt Romney will win and have at least 50 GOP senators (plus his vice president) to pass a budgetary bill by reconciliation. Maybe not. The presidential election and key Senate races look close, and four months is an eternity in politics.
And maybe, just maybe, the same Democrats and liberals who thought partisanship was the only reason the court could strike down Obamacare will look back, when a future case is decided in favor of federalism and limited government, and say, “This stinks, but hey — Roberts was with us on health care back in 2012. So it’s cool.” Or maybe their reactions will be just as vicious and plainly partisan as their blowback to an anti-Obamacare decision promised to be.
Possible future good is a consolation for Thursday’s loss, but it’s no substitute for a win.
(Note from Kyle: This is my column for the Sunday AJC. As anyone who read my posts Thursday can tell, I have been going back and forth about the impact of the Obamacare ruling. Consider this column a refinement of my opinion: There are some good things that could come out of the ruling, but they are by no means guaranteed.)
– By Kyle Wingfield
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677 comments Add your comment
md
July 1st, 2012
10:55 pm
“As further evidenced by your intentional and sophist misrepresentation of the aims of the OWS protests…”
So we ARE to believe they draw the line at 384k…….
Still laughing here Am…….
AmVet
July 1st, 2012
10:58 pm
So we ARE to believe they draw the line at 384k…….
Wrong pronoun.
At least have enough convictions in your own made up beliefs that you don’t have to create imaginary allies to make them seem worthwhile…
md
July 1st, 2012
11:01 pm
And yes Am, I tend to find the ows protests a bit comical when they should be out using the power of numbers…..they can start by using that power to dictate their own buying habits……don’t like stuff being shipped in from overseas? Ok, then use facebook to make a change……they can dictate to the powers that be if they so choose, by buying goods and services that make a difference……but it seems all they choose to do is sit around.
The evil, greedy corporations are worthless without profits……so don’t buy them.
Of course jobs will also change hands, so be careful how they play the game…….
getalife
July 1st, 2012
11:04 pm
The gop are wasting millions on lawyer welfare md.
Both cases are tossed.
Your party is great at wasting money.
md
July 1st, 2012
11:04 pm
Made up beliefs AM? I’ve been waiting for you to show me where I’m wrong…..I’ll be happy to look at anything you have that shows the direct relationship between trade imbalance and real wages is false and you just keep disappearing……..
Tenacity365
July 1st, 2012
11:05 pm
Goodnight its been a pleasure
md
July 1st, 2012
11:08 pm
“The gop are wasting millions on lawyer welfare md.”
Just gop? The lawyers rule the world……just look at the system they put in place.
They write the laws, they enforce the laws, and they create the legal language so the laymen is dependent on them……they are the lawyers, the politicians and the judges……
Pretty good job security they designed for themselves huh??
md
July 1st, 2012
11:10 pm
It’s late, gotta go…..but Am, feel free to post those links and I’ll preview them at a later date and get back to you.
@@
July 1st, 2012
11:12 pm
Getalife:
The government forces you to buy insurance if a driver uses their roads. Heck! I could drive a vehicle thru pastures or woods without having insurance.
getalife
July 1st, 2012
11:32 pm
“Heck! I could drive a vehicle thru pastures or woods without having insurance”
Yup and if you wreck that car, you pay for all the damages to car and property.
I would inform those young whipper snappers that one day they will get sick and hospitals are very expensive.
@@
July 1st, 2012
11:36 pm
I’ve heard tell it rains on the just and unjust.
I must fall into a third category…the justifried.
seabeau
July 2nd, 2012
5:32 am
The States need to call for a Constitutional Convention. To reapply the restrainsts placed on the Federal Government by the Founders but destoryed by the Civil War.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
July 2nd, 2012
6:08 am
Ooops, Ben Nelson sided with Republicans but had to be bribed.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
July 2nd, 2012
6:20 am
Aahhh, the personal attack squad swooped in and called me “angry.”
hahahhaha, wonders never cease to amaze.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
July 2nd, 2012
6:33 am
AmWet: “One needs to either make around $385,000 per year or have net assets worth $8.4million.
How many college professors do you suppose are in that group?”
That would be Elizabeth Warren, Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, AmWet. You’d also know her as the self-proclaimed architect of the Occupy movement. Also know as Lieawatha and/or Fauxcahontas for her false claims of Cherokee heritage. Shes also the one who plagiarized recipes submitted by her for the well-known Native American cookbook “Pow-Wow Chow”.
As Bugs Bunny might say to you, “What a maroon”!
@@
July 2nd, 2012
7:38 am
Re-election drives Obama’s legacy
“Obamacare,” as critics derisively call it and supporters adoringly do, is his Medicare, his Social Security.
The high court ensured that the law would crown Obama’s legacy. He did it with no Republican help in Congress, with half the country against him, with a Supreme Court led by a conservative chief justice who produced the surprising, deciding vote to rescue his law.
Medicare and Social Security are killing us. Obama’s legacy will bury us.
fair and balanced
July 2nd, 2012
7:54 am
The same five conservative justices stated the commerce clause can be used to justify a federal ban on home grown marijuana for private use. . Limited federal powers when they struck down Arizona’s statutes? Limited federal powers when they struck down the voting procedures upheld by the Florida Supreme Court?Whatever works on a given day is the precedent of these so called justices, Kyle go back to reading tea leaves.
independent thinker
July 2nd, 2012
7:58 am
MD- How come you are not righteously angry about Reagan giving everyone free emergency room care even if there are illegals? And how come you are not upset by George W. giving the elederly free Medicare drugs with no source of funding? Must be skin color.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
July 2nd, 2012
7:59 am
“Limited federal powers when they struck down the voting procedures upheld by the Florida Supreme Court?”
Oh, please. Preventing differing standards for determining valid votes in select counties is the very definition of “equal protection under the law”.
Crawl back under your “Bush was selected” rock.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
July 2nd, 2012
8:11 am
Welcome to the “conservatives are racists” posts by idiots like “independent thinker” (both being contradictions in terms).
In case you missed it in debate school, bub, the omission of a statement on a policy does not constitute agreement with the policy.
@@
July 2nd, 2012
8:55 am
Here we go again!
Euro falls as EU deal doubts grow, economy weakens
Stock futures flat after rally; data eyed
@@
July 2nd, 2012
8:56 am
Being spanked in childhood linked with adult mental illness, study suggests
Oh puhleeze!
JDW
July 2nd, 2012
8:58 am
@@@…”Here we go again”
“Last Friday marked the end of the first half of the trading year, with all three indexes posting strong gains for the six months. The Dow rose 5.3%. The Nasdaq surged 12.5%, and the S&P added 8%. ”
I certainly hope so!
JDW
July 2nd, 2012
8:59 am
@@@…”Being spanked in childhood linked with adult mental illness, study suggests”
WOW that explains a lot of behavior around here…
@@
July 2nd, 2012
9:02 am
The Obama Campaign is vigorously defending its attacks on Mitt Romney as an “outsourcer,” following an analysis by one independent fact-checker that called some of the claims “untrue” and others “thinly supported.”
In a six-page letter to FactCheck.org, deputy Obama campaign manager Stephanie Cutter disputes the notion that Romney cannot be held accountable for outsourcing by Bain Capital-owned companies after February 1999, when he stepped down as CEO.
What was Romney’s role in those cases? It’s not entirely clear. While Team Obama claims Romney’s departure from Bain in 1999 wasn’t a clean break, they do not present any direct evidence that Romney had a hands-on, decision-making role in any of the outsourcing cases cited in the ads.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/obama-campaign-challenges-fact-checker-report-on-romney-outsourcing/
Obama at war with the facts.
schnirt
St Simons - we're on Island time, mon
July 2nd, 2012
9:19 am
No.
Bush v Gore 5-4 was wrong with disastrous consequences to Earth
Citizens Untied 5-4 was wrong with disastrous consequences to the US
The 4 clowns in this ruling were wrong.
Roberts saved the SC from being a joke.
til the next 5-4 partisan hack ruling.
or til Fat Tony & his 2 goons get replaced, hopefully soon.
md
July 2nd, 2012
10:29 am
“MD- How come you are not righteously angry about Reagan giving everyone free emergency room care even if there are illegals? And how come you are not upset by George W. giving the elederly free Medicare drugs with no source of funding? Must be skin color.”
You need to keep your bigotry to yourself……I prefer not to share that with you.
As for Reagan……I don’t like it, but in the name of humanity I see where he was coming from. We shouldn’t turn anyone away, but giving them unlimited access is a whole different topic.
As for the drug plan……didn’t like that either…….and that is where the gop is as bad as the dnc…..neither should be using reconciliation in my opinion…….just as I disagree vehemently with Obama unilaterally setting policy by not enforcing laws……..where do you think that will lead?
Yep, the next time the gop gets in power, they will have a tendency to do the eact same thing as Obama has set the precedent…………..not good in my opinion, but the precedent has been set. If the 2 parties don’t like the actions taken by the other party, then they would be better served to set the example.