Posted by
Steve on Thursday, September 29, 2011 12:23:34 PM
The Obama administration pulled a fast one this week. They decided to “fast track” Obamacare to the Supreme Court. Everyone expected that they would appeal to the full 11th Circuit Court for further consideration. This would have delayed taking Obamacare to the Supreme Court for 3-4 months. Deciding to do it now puts the Supreme Court in the middle of a dilemma. They have to decide this controversial issue during an election year. No matter what they decide, they will be vilified by the losing side.
The Obama administration, through Jay Carney, Press Secretary, is sounding confident that Obamacare will be found constitutional. Obviously he has not read his pocket constitution lately. If he had read his pocket constitution lately, he would discover that there is no mention of health care in the constitution. Their reliance on the commerce clause to force people to purchase health insurance is stretching the commerce clause far beyond any use of the clause in the past. The clause is part of the preamble to the section dealing with commerce. But, Progressives have decided to hang their hat on the commerce clause and ride it to death. This time they have gone too far.
Any attorney or judge with an open mind will find Obamacare unconstitutional based on the mandate. The government cannot require people to purchase anything. If they start with healthcare, where will it stop? The government could mandate that people should purchase just about anything that they thought we should have. This is a slippery slope that we should not step on. The vote to make Obamacare unconstitutional should be 8-0, if all justices are honest.
Justice Kagan worked on Obamacare when she was part of the administration. According to Supreme Court rules, she will be required to recuse herself from hearing the case. At least, that is what an honest person would do. I fully expect to say that her input into Obamacare was minimal at best so she will hear the case. I also expect all the liberal justices to vote that Obamacare is constitutional. That is because the liberal justices do not believe in the constitution, so anything a liberal President wants would be fine with them.
I expect the four conservative justices to vote that Obamacare is unconstitutional. That is because these four read the constitution and try and determine what the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote it. Based on those guidelines, Obamacare is toast.
Anthony Kennedy is always the hardest Justice to read. That is because sometimes he follows the Constitution and sometimes he ignores it. You are never really sure which way he will go. Since this is so obviously unconstitutional, I expect him to uphold the rule of law and rule that it is unconstitutional. That would make the vote 5-4, if Justice Kagan is dishonest. If Justice Kagan is honest, the vote will be 5-3.
The results should be known about the time the Republicans nominate someone for President. That would make Obamacare a political football during the campaign season. The Democrats feel that they can make Republicans and the Supreme Court the “evil” ones by declaring it unconstitutional. They do not seem to realize that most Americans think that Obamacare is unconstitutional.
This next 9-12 months should be interesting for those that watch the Supreme Court. It would be fun to be a fly on the wall to hear their discussions on the merits of this case. But, either way it rules, the Supreme Court will be persona non grata by the supporters of the side that loses.