The reason I like E. J. Dionne:
Some excerpts on his commentary on the Supreme Court vs. the Health Care legislation:
Three days of Supreme Court arguments over the health-care law demonstrated for all to see that conservative justices are prepared to act as an alternative legislature, diving deeply into policy details as if they were members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Senator, excuse me, Justice Samuel Alito quoted Congressional Budget Office figures on Tuesday to talk about the insurance costs of the young. On Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts sounded like the House whip in discussing whether parts of the law could stand if other parts fell. He noted that without various provisions, Congress “wouldn’t have been able to put together, cobble together, the votes to get it through.” Tell me again, was this a courtroom or a lobbyist’s office?
It fell to the court’s liberals — the so-called “judicial activists,” remember? — to remind their conservative brethren that legislative power is supposed to rest in our government’s elected branches.
—
The irony is that if the court’s conservatives overthrow the mandate, they will hasten the arrival of a more government-heavy system. Justice Anthony Kennedy even hinted that it might be more “honest” if government simply used “the tax power to raise revenue and to just have a national health service, single-payer.” Remember those words.
—
…a court that gave us Bush vs. Gore and Citizens United will prove conclusively that it sees no limits on its power, no need to defer to those elected to make our laws. A Supreme Court that is supposed to give us justice will instead deliver ideology.
See what I mean. Clear and concise with an ability to combine seriousness with humor. After all, we have to live with this stuff.
Read the whole column HERE.
Related articles
- Supreme Court says jail strip searches after minor offenses are allowed (pennlive.com)
- Dionne v. The Supreme Court on Obamacare (nationalinterest.org)
- Will a Tea Party Supreme Court guarantee Obama a second term? (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
- If the Health Law Is Struck Down… (themoderatevoice.com)
- “An Alternative Legislature”: Judicial Activists In The Supreme Court (mykeystrokes.com)
- Activist Judges On Trial (themoderatevoice.com)
Posted on April 2, 2012, in blogs, Congress, Economics, editorial, ethics, government, Health Care, humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Press, quote, Supreme Court, Word from Bill and tagged Anthony Kennedy, Citizens United, Congressional Budget Office, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of the United States, United States Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Here’s a rarity; I agree with you and Dionne insofar as the SCOTUS not being the ones to determine what can and can’t be salvaged from ObamaCare.
If they find the mandate unconstitutional then that is what they should do and, since there’s no severability clause, scrap the whole of the law. Nothing more beyond possibly issuing a court order that Congress must draft laws to cover all the portions of the law that were actually other, previously existing laws that got bundled into it.
BTW: “Nice” trick with the 3 comment rule, since it sets you up to always get the last word unless the person wants to risk being permanently censored by Akismet after you spam ban them.
Ah, rules. Glad to give you your shots, however.