OPEN THREAD: Judgment Day for ObamaCare

The "Roberts Court" in 2010... how will they rule on ObamaCare?

We’ll keep a keen eye on the New Jersey state budget endgame, Save Jerseyans, but we all know there’s only one political storyline on everyone’s mind today…

The ObamaCare ruling. 2,700 pages, 9 primary sections and 450 individual provisions of pure tyranny.

When? The United State Supreme Court’s Arizona immigration law decision dropped around 10:00 a.m.; we can probably expect the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) ruling at around the same time today. When it’s released, you can find it at the Court’s official website (top right hand corner).

What? The Highest Court in the Land weighed four basic questions in its deliberations as indicated by the oral argument:

  • The Anti-Injunction Act question: Was the states’ suit barred by the Anti-InjunctionAct? Which, in essence, generally prohibits federal courts from issuing injunctions against state court proceedings?
  • The Minimum Coverage Provision question: Simply put, does Congress have the power under Article I of the U.S. Constitution to enact an individual mandate?
  • The Severability question: Assuming that the Affordable Healthcare law exceeds Congress’ limited and enumerated powers under the U.S. Constitution, then must the entire Affordable Healthcare law be invalidated because it’s “non-severable” from the individual mandate provision? Or can parts of it remain intact?
  • The Federalism and Medicaid question: Can Congress constitutionally coerce the states into accepting conditions by threatening to withhold all federal Medicaid funding?

At stake? Absolutely everything, Save Jerseyans. No exaggeration whatsoever. The central argument set forth by twenty-six U.S. states in Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services explains what the Affordable Healthcare law means for our constitutional system:

Justice Anthony Kennedy... the Decider?

Regulation of non-economic activity under the Commerce Clause is possible only through the Necessary and Proper Clause. The Necessary and Proper Clause confers supplemental authority only when the means adopted to accomplish an enumerated power are ‘appropriate’, are ‘plainly adapted to that end’, and are ‘consistent with the letter and spirit of the constitution.’ Requiring citizen-to-citizen subsidy or redistribution is contrary to the foundational assumptions of the constitutional compact. (Case 3:10-cv-00188-HEH, Document 1. Page 5)

Said another way, if the Court upholds the so-called “Minimum Coverage Provision,” colloquially referred to as the “individual mandate,” then THERE WILL BE NO LIMIT TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S POWER. What can’t Washington make us do if they can force private citizens to purchase a product? A decision upholding the mandate

Political implications? Uncertain. Either ideological camp can spin victory as validation, or alternatively, manipulate defeat as a rallying call for fundraising. How the decision play politically may have less to do with its substance and more to do with which political establishment does a better job of spinning/manipulating in the weeks and months to come.

The outcome? God only knows! Anyone who pretends to know what’s going to happen clearly has no idea what’s about to happen, folks. The Court’s inner-workings are surprisingly informal and a little mysterious.

What we DO know is that Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Court’s one true remaining “moderate” or swing vote, will almost definitely prove to be the key decisionmaker when all is said and done. Veteran court-watchers believe his comments during oral argument betrayed skepticism towards the individual mandate. Whether that’s true, and what it could mean for the other provisions at issue, is not known. If Kennedy goes Left, Chief Justice John Roberts may join him in order to make it a 6-3 decision and, in so doing, act on his authority as Chief Justice to appoint himself as the opinion’s author and produce a moderate opinion. But if the Court goes Right, it’s likely to do so by a slimmer 5-4 margin, and once again Roberts may have to let Kennedy play a major role in crafting the ruling’s language.

We’ll know any moment now.

Pay attention, Save Jerseyans! Your freedom depends on it.

 

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8405 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

3 Comments

Comments are closed.