It is not necessary to rule the whole law unconstitutional to dispose of it. If the mandate falls, the structure built upon it — the means to fund the Act — MUST fall as the Congress failed to provide severability.
Scalia made the point by rejecting the notion the Court could be expected to wade through 3000 pages of text to cherry pick what could survive and what would fail. It is Congress’s job to write the Law; the SCOTUS will NOT do so for it.
Absent the severability component, the entire Act lives or dies on the failure of any one or more critical components.
One Man’s Opinion
21stCenturion
That's my thought as well, but I'm not hearing anyone in the media talk about it like this. And it's been fading from FR as well too, which concerns me.
Sure hope you’re right. I guess we will see tomorrow.
If SCOTUS kills the mandate but leaves the rest standing, the Health Insurance industry will gear up their SuperPACS and spring into full-on repeal mode.
They were only willing to put up with mandated free screenings, birth control and coverage for 26 year old slackers if 40 million new paying customers at gunpoint came along with it. If they aren’t getting those customers they are NOT gonna let Obama stick them with the rest of the crap sandwich.
This is why the Obama Administration went to the Court after oral arguments and filed a brief asking the Court to shut down the whole thing if they kill the mandate. Doing otherwise would turn their former allies in the health insurance industry into a very powerful and dangerous enemy.