In a landmark and complex 5-4 United States Supreme Court decision issued today on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act ("Obamacare"), Chief Justice John Roberts reading the Majority Decision upheld all provisions of the law except the Medicare/Medicaid portion indicating that put undue pressure on individual states to force compliance. With the remainder of the law upheld, the Supreme Court finally put to rest what many
"arm chair lawyers" have been arguing about for well over a year with the politically charged mantra of " Obama is a dictator;" "Obama defies the Constitution;" Obama blah, blah, blah... all rhetoric designed to paint the president as "un-American" and "not one of us." What these very same critics always conveniently ignore, is that the Law was passed by Congress, even with some votes from the across the aisle and signed into law by Obama. Obama did not create the law by himself nor did he impose it upon the nation like the "dictator" his opponents portray him to be. The challenge to the law was NOT based on whether the president and Congress over-reached (like has been claimed ad nauseaum on oppositional media outlets), but whether the Constitution grants the power to Congress to require Americans to purchase health insurance or face some form of penalty (which the Court upheld as a tax, clearly within the power of Congress to impose). Challenged by over 22 states controlled by GOP Governors and Statehouses in an attempt to nullify federal law, Obamacare found itself in front of the Supreme Court. The real hypocrisy here lies with the Conservatives and the GOP. Since the Progressive Era, the Conservatives and the GOP have railed against "judicial activism" and preached instead "judicial restraint." "Activism" is where the courts consisting of unelected justices make law from the bench and "Restraint" is the belief that the courts should approve virtually all laws passed by the Congress, since they are the representatives duly elected. Mitt Romney himself just last week came out with the statement that he would seek to appoint "restrained" justices. It should be noted that in reading his Majority Decision, Chief Justice Roberts stated "a general reticence to invalidate the acts of the nation's elected leaders." Now that is practicing restraint. Then why the outrage from the GOP? Because when a decision fits their needs, it is okay no matter how "activist" it might be. This is an example of classic hypocrisy, but the Conservatives have a sense of snow blindness when it comes to anything they can't agree with. Not to be outdone, the "vision" problem applies equally to the Democrats when they argue the legitimacy of their sponsored legislation. For them, it's politics as usual and you can bet the GOP and the Democrats will be playing hardball on this matter all the way to the November elections!
As of this writing, there has been no formal response from the White House or Mitt Romney. Romney yesterday was quoted as saying that he bet "no one in the White House will be sleeping well tonight." I guess they will be this evening as Romney now appears to be the "I'm all for it, its a great model for the Nation", "Now I will repeal it" flip flopper he really is. Romney and his fellow "experts" like Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin all emphatically stated the law was unconstitutional. They are now proven wrong. Just today, Sarah Palin tweeted that "Freedom just Died." I guess the death panels she feared the most were sitting on the Supreme Court! This was NOT a referendum on Obama. It WAS a referendum on the ability of Congress to impose taxes, the Supremacy Clause and Federalism, and THEY WON (now get over it). Somewhere, John Marshall must be smiling.
"arm chair lawyers" have been arguing about for well over a year with the politically charged mantra of " Obama is a dictator;" "Obama defies the Constitution;" Obama blah, blah, blah... all rhetoric designed to paint the president as "un-American" and "not one of us." What these very same critics always conveniently ignore, is that the Law was passed by Congress, even with some votes from the across the aisle and signed into law by Obama. Obama did not create the law by himself nor did he impose it upon the nation like the "dictator" his opponents portray him to be. The challenge to the law was NOT based on whether the president and Congress over-reached (like has been claimed ad nauseaum on oppositional media outlets), but whether the Constitution grants the power to Congress to require Americans to purchase health insurance or face some form of penalty (which the Court upheld as a tax, clearly within the power of Congress to impose). Challenged by over 22 states controlled by GOP Governors and Statehouses in an attempt to nullify federal law, Obamacare found itself in front of the Supreme Court. The real hypocrisy here lies with the Conservatives and the GOP. Since the Progressive Era, the Conservatives and the GOP have railed against "judicial activism" and preached instead "judicial restraint." "Activism" is where the courts consisting of unelected justices make law from the bench and "Restraint" is the belief that the courts should approve virtually all laws passed by the Congress, since they are the representatives duly elected. Mitt Romney himself just last week came out with the statement that he would seek to appoint "restrained" justices. It should be noted that in reading his Majority Decision, Chief Justice Roberts stated "a general reticence to invalidate the acts of the nation's elected leaders." Now that is practicing restraint. Then why the outrage from the GOP? Because when a decision fits their needs, it is okay no matter how "activist" it might be. This is an example of classic hypocrisy, but the Conservatives have a sense of snow blindness when it comes to anything they can't agree with. Not to be outdone, the "vision" problem applies equally to the Democrats when they argue the legitimacy of their sponsored legislation. For them, it's politics as usual and you can bet the GOP and the Democrats will be playing hardball on this matter all the way to the November elections!
As of this writing, there has been no formal response from the White House or Mitt Romney. Romney yesterday was quoted as saying that he bet "no one in the White House will be sleeping well tonight." I guess they will be this evening as Romney now appears to be the "I'm all for it, its a great model for the Nation", "Now I will repeal it" flip flopper he really is. Romney and his fellow "experts" like Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin all emphatically stated the law was unconstitutional. They are now proven wrong. Just today, Sarah Palin tweeted that "Freedom just Died." I guess the death panels she feared the most were sitting on the Supreme Court! This was NOT a referendum on Obama. It WAS a referendum on the ability of Congress to impose taxes, the Supremacy Clause and Federalism, and THEY WON (now get over it). Somewhere, John Marshall must be smiling.
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