MARCH 29, 2012 4:00 A.M.
High Court Hopes
(Page 3 of 7)
By NRO Symposium
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JOHN FUND
One of the least-noticed mistakes made by the Obama administration in its arguments for its health-care law this week was the claim by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli that Congress had passed Obamacare to deal with a pressing national problem only “after long study and careful deliberation.” I’m told that even liberal lawyers in the courtroom had pained looks on their faces at that preposterous assertion.
Certainly the general public doesn’t buy that argument, as indicated by the polls. I doubt many lawyers do either. Congressional leaders bullied members into voting for the measure in the dead of night, blatant payoffs such as Nebraska’s “Cornhusker Kickback” and Florida’s “Gatoraid” were handed out, and members were given almost no time to absorb the bill’s 2,700 pages (leading House speaker Nancy Pelosi to say, candidly, “we have to pass the [health-care] bill so that you can find out what is in it.”) At least one Supreme Court justice is said to be astonished that process was so sloppy that Congress left out the traditional “severability” section, which routinely allows that should the courts strike down part of a law the rest would stand.
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Indeed, the third day of oral arguments in the Supreme Court brought a mild surprise: At least five of the justices are considering repealing all of Obamacare, either because the task of figuring out which parts can work absent an individual mandate is too onerous or they don’t believe Congress would have passed the bill without the mandate. In other words, the Court just might take the extraordinary step of sending Congress a stiff rebuke: that its recklessness and sloppiness in lawmaking should have some limits.
Randy Barnett, the Georgetown law professor who has bravely pushed the legal arguments against Obamacare with bulldog tenacity for two years, summed up what has been a good week for the law’s critics: “After these arguments, if the Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, no one in the country will be surprised.” Indeed, if it happens, a majority of Americans will be relieved. And the battle over putting back some serious curbs on Congress’s ability to run roughshod over the Constitution will then begin in earnest.
— John Fund, a New York writer, is author of Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy.
This is my contribution to today's http://www.nationalreview.com on-line discussion about how the Court should rule and what should the political response to it's decision (or the decision we hope for) be.
I hope the Court rules Obamacare unconstitutional. The fact that Congress had many other ways to expand insurance pools has undermined the necessary and proper claim for the mandate. As Roger Vinson noted in his district court ruling, “While the individual mandate was clearly ‘necessary and essential’ to the Act as drafted, it is not ‘necessary and essential’ to health care reform in general.” The mandate is a way to redistribute premium revenue from the young and healthy to other groups. Under Obamacare, it is possible to pay the penalty and use the free emergency care that must still be provided under current law. I think all the judges regard Obamacare as unconstitutional and a failure.
If the Court overturns the law, Obamacare again becomes an issue. Supporters will warn that young people will lose coverage under their parents’ plan and that this will undo community rating. Opponents will be able to say the ruling stops a tax increase, blocks the indirect tax Obamacare imposed on people forced to buy the amount of health-care coverage deemed necessary by government, and pulls the plug on rationing. I hope legislators introduce a market-based reform plan that makes low-cost coverage available. If Obamacare supporters want to reintroduce the law with higher taxes and more regulation, let them.
High Court Hopes
(Page 3 of 7)
By NRO Symposium
ArchiveLatestRSSSend
inShare
Print Text
Comments 4
JOHN FUND
One of the least-noticed mistakes made by the Obama administration in its arguments for its health-care law this week was the claim by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli that Congress had passed Obamacare to deal with a pressing national problem only “after long study and careful deliberation.” I’m told that even liberal lawyers in the courtroom had pained looks on their faces at that preposterous assertion.
Certainly the general public doesn’t buy that argument, as indicated by the polls. I doubt many lawyers do either. Congressional leaders bullied members into voting for the measure in the dead of night, blatant payoffs such as Nebraska’s “Cornhusker Kickback” and Florida’s “Gatoraid” were handed out, and members were given almost no time to absorb the bill’s 2,700 pages (leading House speaker Nancy Pelosi to say, candidly, “we have to pass the [health-care] bill so that you can find out what is in it.”) At least one Supreme Court justice is said to be astonished that process was so sloppy that Congress left out the traditional “severability” section, which routinely allows that should the courts strike down part of a law the rest would stand.
Advertisement
Indeed, the third day of oral arguments in the Supreme Court brought a mild surprise: At least five of the justices are considering repealing all of Obamacare, either because the task of figuring out which parts can work absent an individual mandate is too onerous or they don’t believe Congress would have passed the bill without the mandate. In other words, the Court just might take the extraordinary step of sending Congress a stiff rebuke: that its recklessness and sloppiness in lawmaking should have some limits.
Randy Barnett, the Georgetown law professor who has bravely pushed the legal arguments against Obamacare with bulldog tenacity for two years, summed up what has been a good week for the law’s critics: “After these arguments, if the Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, no one in the country will be surprised.” Indeed, if it happens, a majority of Americans will be relieved. And the battle over putting back some serious curbs on Congress’s ability to run roughshod over the Constitution will then begin in earnest.
— John Fund, a New York writer, is author of Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy.
This is my contribution to today's http://www.nationalreview.com on-line discussion about how the Court should rule and what should the political response to it's decision (or the decision we hope for) be.
I hope the Court rules Obamacare unconstitutional. The fact that Congress had many other ways to expand insurance pools has undermined the necessary and proper claim for the mandate. As Roger Vinson noted in his district court ruling, “While the individual mandate was clearly ‘necessary and essential’ to the Act as drafted, it is not ‘necessary and essential’ to health care reform in general.” The mandate is a way to redistribute premium revenue from the young and healthy to other groups. Under Obamacare, it is possible to pay the penalty and use the free emergency care that must still be provided under current law. I think all the judges regard Obamacare as unconstitutional and a failure.
If the Court overturns the law, Obamacare again becomes an issue. Supporters will warn that young people will lose coverage under their parents’ plan and that this will undo community rating. Opponents will be able to say the ruling stops a tax increase, blocks the indirect tax Obamacare imposed on people forced to buy the amount of health-care coverage deemed necessary by government, and pulls the plug on rationing. I hope legislators introduce a market-based reform plan that makes low-cost coverage available. If Obamacare supporters want to reintroduce the law with higher taxes and more regulation, let them.
