In a Washington Post opinion piece, Charles Krauthammer makes the case that it is ObamaCare that is on trial—not the Supreme Court. The focus should remain on this “fundamentally transformative law” that “remak[es] one-sixth of the economy.” Krauthammer notes that ObamaCare passed on strictly partisan lines, unlike other major social legislation such the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, and Medicaid. He suggests that perhaps the Court will not give Congress the normal “restraint and deference” in considering the constitutionality of ObamaCare. Whether or not the justices read the Washington Post opinion …
Yesterday in a joint press conference with the Canadian prime minister and Mexican president, President Obama expressed his confidence that the Supreme Court will uphold his signature health care law, following more than six hours of oral argument before the Court last week. Obama suggested that the Court—not Congress—would be taking an “unprecedented, extraordinary step” if it overturned ObamaCare despite the fact that the Court will need to stretch its Commerce Clause jurisprudence to the outer limits to find that Congress’ mandate that people buy inflated health insurance plans is …
The morning news cycle has been buzzing with anticipation as the Supreme Court meets for its first conference after the Obamcare oral arguments, and some are reporting that the justices “will likely know the outcome of the historic health care case by the time they go home this weekend.” In fact, Obamcare won’t be the only topic of discussion today, and the justices’ decision process on Obamacare will likely continue for months. During conference, the justices vote on cases that have already been argued, but they also discuss whether to grant …
Today marks the two-year anniversary of President Obama signing into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will go down in the history books as “Obamacare.” With the Supreme Court poised to hear oral argument in the 26 states’ and NFIB’s challenge to the Act next week, members of the House have been celebrating and lamenting the passage of Obamacare. On the floor of the House Wednesday evening, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi opined that the Declaration of Independence supports Obamacare because the Act “helps to guarantee…a healthier life, the …
In an opinion piece over the weekend, Washington Post Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes posits that the government may be able to “lure” eight of the nine justices to uphold the Affordable Care Act. Barnes asserts that even conservative bastion Antonin Scalia might agree with the government that Congress’s power to regulate commerce among the states extends to compelling people to purchase inflated health insurance policies. As proof of this, Barnes points to the High Court’s 2005 decision in Gonzales v. Raich. Concurring with the majority opinion to uphold a …
In an editorial last month, The New York Times argued that the Senate should adopt President Obama’s plan requiring the Senate to vote on judicial nominees within 90 days—thus eliminating the filibuster as applied to those nominations. The Times notes that this is a “major change in position” from its stance that the filibuster “goes to the center of the peculiar but effective form of government America cherishes.” As Ed Whelan pointed out, this is not the first time the Times has reversed course on the use of the filibuster. …
Today, the Supreme Court released the oral argument schedule for the consolidated Obamacare challenges. The Court will hear oral argument on March 26, 27 and 28, 2012, with a nearly unprecedented amount of time allotted for argument. First up on March 26, the Court will hear argument on the Anti-Injunction Act, which bars suits to stop a tax before it has been imposed. The second day, the Court will hear two hours of argument on the minimum coverage provision, also known as the individual mandate. On the third and final …
When the Supreme Court agreed this month to hear the Obamacare constitutional challenge, it didn’t surprise most Court watchers, but the amount of time it set aside for oral argument is highly unusual. That is surprising for a few reasons, most of which should be unsettling to the current administration that is defending the law. The Supreme Court’s Nov. 14 orders were a bit ambiguous on one point, but it seems to have scheduled 5 ½ hours of oral argument on issues related to the one case brought by 26 …
It’s official. The Supreme Court will consider challenges to Obamacare stemming from the Eleventh Circuit decision striking down the law’s individual mandate. In that case, 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) partially won their suit, claiming that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) should be voided as unconstitutional. The Eleventh Circuit ruled that the mandate — considered by many to be the linchpin of the overhaul of the U.S. health system — was unconstitutional. But the court declined to strike down the law in its …
This afternoon, the District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania became the latest court to strike down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (Obamacare) individual mandate, holding that “[t]he power to regulate interstate commerce does not subsume the power to dictate a lifetime financial commitment to health insurance coverage.” The challenge was brought by a Barbara Goudy-Bachman and Gregory Bachman, who are both self-employed and have chosen to drop their health insurance because it exceeded their monthly mortgage payments. Instead, Bachmans opted to pay for health care out …
