In hindsight, that strategy to replace Roberts’ appointment as associate to replace O’Connor and bump him up to Chief after Rehnquist passed away to avoid an extra confirmation battle (appointing a sitting justice for a total of three confirmation battles in a row) was not the best decision...Roberts was not prepared or qualified to start out as Chief as we can clearly see from his conduct in this case and what he apparently saw his role as in being the Chief to try to get favorable press for the Court from the media and the far left talking heads in academia (if we assume the reports from the alleged leaks are true...which if they were not, you would think the Court would be denouncing them...the lack of denials speaks volumes to me). It seemed like a genius chess move on Bush’s part at the time to undercut Leahy and company’s shenanigans...but not now. Hindsight is always 20/20, of course.
If Roberts really thinks the Chief Justice is perceived as the public face of the USSC, he’s got a vastly puffed up ego.
All of the justices are the face. Thomas is a bit of a shy face, but he still shows it.
Many here pushed for Judge Janice Brown. She might well have been another Clarence Thomas.
I doubt the stories are true. But that is of little matter, people will believe what they want to believe.
I wish Roberts had ruled otherwise, but I don’t understand why people think this is such an irrational ruling.
For years, the federal government has practiced a policy of a universal mandate, through the use of tax deductions for the purchase of medical insurance. Each year, my employer gets to write off on taxes the amount they pay for my insurance. And each year, my insurance premiums are listed as “pre-tax”, meaning for each dollar I pay, I get a 28 cent payback from the government.
If one assumed that taxes were collected sufficient to cover the cost of government (and clearly they are not), the result of these tax policies is that everybody who does NOT purchase health insurance is paying enough extra taxes to cover the 28% of my premium that I get back in tax deductions, for every person who buys health insurance.
And I’ve never seen any conservatives complaining about how the federal government is forcing them to buy health care by taxing them more if they don’t.
And Roberts is entirely correct about the practical matter — congress could have easily raised everybody’s taxes by $5000 a year, since they have that right. Then, they could have easily given everybody who purchased just the right type of insurance a tax credit of $5000. Thus “penalizing” everybody who didn’t buy the right insurance with a $5000 tax “penalty”.
For example, everybody who doesn’t by an alternative fuel vehicle pays a tax penalty, equal to the amount everybody who DOES buy such a vehicle gets in tax credits.
When I bought my new air conditioner, because I bought the “right” kind, I got a $1500 tax credit. Guess what — that means that all the rest of you were penalized by the amount needed to reduce MY tax liability by $1500.
My point is, the government has been using tax policy for years to encourage specific behavior, and frankly, conservatives have only complained on the margins. Heck, I’ve seen hatred from conservatives when people suggest getting rid of the biggest government mandate of all — home ownership. Even when that mandate caused much of our financial problems, conservatives balk at removing that mandate (which makes every non-homeonwer pay more to cover the taxes not paid by homeowners deducting their mortgage insurance).
And of course, first-time homeowners get a huge tax credit, which means all the rest of us have to pay higher taxes to make up for the lost taxes.
Yes, Roberts should have ruled that congress made the tax a “penalty”, and therefore it was unconstitutional. But imagine if something conservatives really wanted, like deporting illegals, was up on some technicality, we’d want the court to pay deference to the legislative branch rather than throw out a law on such a technicality.
In some ways, things are cleaner now. We know that Obamacare is a huge tax inscrease for every american, one they can only avoid if they buy government-approved health insurance. If we don’t like that, we need first to get a congress that will repeal Obamacare, and then we need a constitutional amendment that makes it illegal for the federal government to make any tax or credit that does not broadly apply to people regardless of their specific choices.
We won’t be able to stop progressive taxation, but we need to stop the federal government from picking winners and losers through tax deductions and tax credits. And Robert’s Obamacare ruling helps clarify that need. And also helps us win the election, because we need to do so to reverse Obamacare.
Meanwhile, if Obamacare had been wiped out, Obama would have run on re-instating it through the use of tax policy just as Roberts ruled; the liberals would have had a reason to come to the polls and vote, and conservatives might have rested on their laurels.
As to the issue of whether Roberts switched to help the court, it makes little sense in a 5-4 ruling; if he had a way to rule that would make a 4-5 go to a 7-2, it might make sense. But why jump from one 5-4 majority to an equally rediculous 5-4 majority?