No matter how you spin it, yesterday's court decision striking down Obamacare's mandate

Washington Examiner ^ | 12/14/10 | Mark Hemingway

[Nachum]

Ezra Klein, the Washington Post's blogging wunderkind, is a smart guy. He made his name becoming the go-to pundit for health care policy. He understands health care policy as few do in D.C. But if you're looking for an unvarnished opinion about the political realities of Obamacare, he's the last guy I would read. Since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act begin winding its way through Congress last year, Klein has been almost unrelentingly supportive of every proposed version of the legislation. Now that the legislation is in place and we're

[Nachum]

No matter how you spin it, yesterday's court decision striking down Obamacare's mandate is a very big deal

[JPG]

Biden agrees with you and is searching for new superlatives.

[what's up]

Klein helpfully reminds us that Obama viciously attacked Hillary during the election for proposing an individual mandate, only to embrace it later out of necessity. Without it, the system cannot work -- something Obama probably understood even as was attacking her

They were talking about this over at DU yesterday...how Obama took the opposite position from Hillary during the debates but ended up embracing the mandate.

Obama made all kinds of promises likely knowing at the time he would backtrack. Closing Guantanamo, prosecuting the Bush interrogators, escalating Afganistan, including the healthcare mandate, taking election public campaign money, acting in a bi-partisan way. Everyone is finally figuring out what we at FR knew all along...that OBAMA IS JUST A COMPULSIVE LIAR.

[Lazlo in PA]

How can the radical phony journalist Ezra Klien be considered an expert on this debacle when you write this about him Washington Examiner?

“Now that the legislation is in place and we’re discovering all kinds of problems with the bill — everything from how it kills drug discounts for Children’s hospitals to eliminates tax deductions for cancer patients — he’s still cheerleading.”

[Fantasywriter]

I took a peek at DU yesterday too. Obama was getting kicked around like a Bruce Lee antagonist in an uber-action movie. The hate for BO was palpable. I saw some threads get locked for OTT Obama-bashing, but I really didn’t see anybody defending him or his healthcare fiasco. One DUer said, ‘Who will we vote for, then—Republicans?’

To which the reply was, ‘Many will stay home or do a write-in, while those who do vote Obama will not contribute to his campaign or work on getting out the vote.’

Pretty good stuff!

[Matchett-PI]

“This is about Liberty. Make no mistake, healthcare is merely a Trojan Horse meant to take down the nation.” Rush 12/14/2010 12:35 PM

Morniing Bell article

“Obamacare will be repealed. It is only a question of when.”

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/12/14/morning-bell-another-victory-on-the-road-to-repeal-2/

Road to Repeal
Posted December 14th, 2010 at 9:17am in Health Care, Rule of Law

“The unchecked expansion of congressional power to the limits suggested by the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers. At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance­or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage­it’s about an individual’s right to choose to participate.” So wrote Judge Henry Hudson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia yesterday in striking down Obamacare’s individual mandate. Specifically, Judge Hudson found that Section 1501 of the act, which forces all Americans to buy government approved health insurance policies, “exceeds the Commerce Clause powers vested in Congress under Article 1.”

The White House and their leftist allies were quick to try and minimize this body blow to Obamacare, arguing that 14 previous court challenges have been dismissed by the courts. This desperate spin doesn’t even pass the laugh test. The 42-page decision is the first by a federal court this far along the litigation process and the first brought by a state (the case was filed by Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli). And soon Judge Roger Vinson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida is expected to rule on an even larger challenge to Obamacare brought by 16 state attorneys general, four governors, two private citizens, and the National Federation of Independent Business.

In an early stage of that litigation, Judge Vinson wrote: “The individual mandate applies across the board. People have no choice and there is no way to avoid it. Those who fall under the individual mandate either comply with it, or they are penalized. It is not based on an activity that they make the choice to undertake. Rather, it is based solely on citizenship and on being alive.”

Judge Hudson used very similar reasoning in rejecting the Obama Administration’s claim that since “every individual in the United States will require health care at some point in their lifetime” the federal government has the power to force Americans to buy health insurance now. Hudson writes: “Of course, the same reasoning could apply to transportation, housing, or nutritional decisions. This broad definition of the economic activity subject to congressional regulation lacks logical limitation and is unsupported by Commerce Clause jurisprudence.”
Judge Hudson then moved on to the Obama Administration’s claim that the individual mandate was actually a tax that would therefore make it constitutional under the General Welfare Clause. Hudson wrote: “This Court’s analysis begins with the unequivocal denials by the Executive and Legislative branches that the [individual mandate] was a tax.” It was only when the Administration found itself before a judge, not in front of voters, that the White House conveniently shifted its rationale. Judge Hudson saw through this deception, identified the individual mandate as the penalty it is, and rejected the Obama Administration’s mandate-as-tax claim.

It was not a total victory for Cuccinelli, however. Judge Hudson rejected Virginia’s request to strike down the entire law. Despite claims by the President himself, and authors of the legislation like Senator Max Baucus (D–MT), Judge Hudson found that the Section 1501 was “severable” from the rest of the law and voided only that section and “directly-dependent provisions which make specific reference to 1501.” Judge Vinson, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court will all be free to revisit this issue.

But whether or not courts will invalidate just Obamacare’s individual mandate is rapidly becoming irrelevant. Obamacare simply may not survive that long. It is already collapsing under its own financial and bureaucratic weight. Just last week, Congress voted to stop reductions in Medicare payments to doctors by raiding future revenues from Obamacare’s insurance subsidy program. The number of waivers the Obama Administration has to grant from Obamacare’s unworkable regulations grows each day. Doctors are telling pollsters they will leave the medical profession in droves if Obamacare is implemented as planned by 2014. And according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll Obamacare is now more unpopular than ever, with only 43 percent approving the law and 52 percent opposed.

Obamacare will be repealed. It is only a question of when.

[USS Alaska]

I've read the opinion and the real good stuff starts on page 35 {it's only 42 pages}, and that's where the judge says, " is clearly a penalty, it cannot be converted into a tax by the simple expedient of calling it such".

The next 7 pages point out in vivid detail why the judge ruled as he did and makes a very compelling case against the feds and for Virginia {and all citizens of the USA}.

This opinion won't be easy for any court to overturn, very detailed and relies very heavily on precedents.

[MrB]

Obamacare will be repealed. It is only a question of when.

Before or after the collapse of the nation - that is the question.

[Matchett-PI]

“This is about Liberty. Make no mistake, healthcare is merely a Trojan Horse meant to take down the nation.” Rush 12/14/2010 12:35 PM

The whole RAT Party is a Trojan Horse

[traderrob6]

He (Roger Vinson) was nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1983.

Keep your fingers crossed.

[al baby]

What are those two real tall buildings in the back ground?

[AU72]

This opinion won't be easy for any court to overturn, very detailed and relies very heavily on precedents.

So was Judge Saunders Saul's opinion against the Al Gore Florida recount, but the Florida SC overturned it at light speed.

That said, SCOTUS did reinstate Judge Saul's ruling.

[MrB]

Those were there until the religion of tolerance and peace decided to show how tolerant and peaceful it was.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

“The individual mandate was created by conservatives who realized that it was the only way to get universal coverage into the private market. Otherwise, insurers turn away the sick, public anger rises, and, eventually, you get some kind of government-run, single-payer system, much as they did in Europe, and much as we have with Medicare.”

That actually does seem to be a plausible scenario. If so, then this court decision plays into the hands of the left wing of the Democrat party.

OTOH, the scenario where people rebel against the whole program, and it's repealed, is also quite plausible.

Does it come down to this “either-or” choice; or am I missing other alternative scenarios?

What's likely to come next?

[Publius6961]

Bookmark

[fatboy]

Klein answers the big question that’s on everyone’s mind, that is “what do you say just before you have the meat stripped from your bones”? His answer “You say that it’s a trap for the person doing the stripping”.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"It was only when the Administration found itself before a judge, not in front of voters, that the White House conveniently shifted its rationale."

HA! What a laugh. Find me one voter who voted for or against the Obamination that is ObamaCare. The majority of voters screamed their displeasure at their elected representatives but were flatly ignored. They have paid and will continue to pay for that.

[Publius6961]

Klein appears to understand that if you can't force everyone to buy insurance, that makes the legislation's mandate that insurance companies cover preexisting conditions unworkable.

How can this socialist clown be considered a knowledgeable "expert," if he can't be relied on to know the profound disconnet with the phrase "insurance," in the same sentence with "preexisting conditions?" I do realize that ignoramuses such as Obama and the "Democratic" leadership do the same, but any conscious human being with an IQ over 80 can grasp the contradiction in a few seconds.

It is routine for Congress to call a skunk "An olfactory-challenged warm fuzzy kitten." but adults have never ever failed to reject such asinine word games; as long as I've been alive.

What makes the progressives believe that the majority of income-tax-paying working adults will ever fail to reject that level of dishonesty?

[cruise_missile]

[Publius6961]

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