Is The Obama Administration Throwing Us Into a Constitutional Crisis Over Health Care?

CNBC ^ | 2/1/2011 | John Carney

[lbryce]

The first of many..

[fluffdaddy]

The plaintiff's don't need an injunction. A contempt of court citation is a horse of a different ethnic background. That would be a bombshell. I'm not certain Judge Vinson would issue it. The stakes at this point are quite low, too low to justify courting a constitutional crisis. But if he just affirmed that the plaintiffs are free to ignore any orders the feds issue persuant to Obamacare he would definitely kick over an anthill.

[InterceptPoint]

Thanks for your prompt reply. It looks like you are right - Obamacare is legally dead until there is a full hearing and ruling by either the 11th Circuit Court or the Supremes. Worth noting that Rush and Levin are also on top of this story and agree with you.

So now the question is: What will the various State Attorneys General do and what will Obama's response be?

Time to warm up the popcorn machine. This may be more fun than an Egyptian Revolution.

[fluffdaddy]

If I were Judge Vinson I would issue an order to show cause why B. Hussein Obama should not be held in contempt of court for refusing to comply with my order. The reaction would be so much fun (at least until the champions of civility firebombed my house.)

[freekitty]

Anyway they can.

[Free Vulcan]

Listen, Obama is on the hook now. He’s going ahead with this in defiance of the judge. This will go to the Supremes, and if it goes against Obama he’ll come out of it having saved no face whatsoever, with the GOP having an open door to kill the bill.

[fluffdaddy]

My guess is that Obama will continue to do everything he can do within the executive branch to implement Obamacare. But efforts to exact compliance from anyone outside the executive branch will grind to a halt until matters are finally resolved. States and insurers just won't cooperate. What's the administration going to do, take them to court? Oops, that won't work. Punish them administratively? That won't work either — the courts would enjoin that sort of thing in a NY minute.

Ironically, Obama might unintentionally strike a mighty blow against the leftist idea that the judiciary should reign supreme. He's setting a precedent here for the proposition that the President can and should rely on his own conscience to determine what the Constitution permits and requires him to do. Conservatives have been arguing that point for decades without effect. Now, suddenly, the left will see merit in our argument. The age of miracles has not yet passed.

[RightFighter]

It seems likely that the Government will ask the 11th Circuit Court to stay the ruling pending an appeal for a reversal of the lower court. This should happen fairly quickly or least there should be an official announcement that it will happen. When it does the 11th Circuit Court will have to rule on the stay request. Until that happens I think discussions of a Constitutional Crisis are a bit premature. Now if Obama doesn’t appeal or if by chance the stay isn’t granted and the Government continues to implement Obamacare then we have grounds for impeachment.

I'm not a lawyer, but I found this about when it is appropriate to stay a judge's ruling:

In reviewing whether to grant a motion to stay, “a court has broad discretion to stay proceedings before it.” Coast Fed. Bank v. United States, 49 Fed. Cl. 11, 15 (2001). The “power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Waterwork & Elec. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936). In making this determination, a court must exercise its judgment by considering the most orderly course of justice and the interests of the parties, weighing any competing interests. Id. at 255. The orderly course of justice and judicial economy is served when granting a stay simplifies the “issues, proof, and questions of law which could be expected to result from a stay.” CMAX, Inc. v. United States, 300 F.2d 265, 268 (9th Cir. 1962).

I would think that any court would decline to stay the ruling, since a stay would result in continued chaos, while letting the ruling stand as is while on appeal results in the most orderly way forward. In other words, by not issuing a stay, the appeals court would be telling the Obama administration to halt implementation while the case is appealed. Halting implementation is sort of a no-harm, no-foul situation. If, however, implementation is allowed to continue and then Vinson's ruling is upheld on appeal, that would produce chaos as the federal government would then have to try to reverse everything that had been done up to that point. The longer the appeal takes, the more chaotic the result.

Any reasonable court will have to see it that way.

[Deo volente]

“where he gets the idea he can get away with this is beyond me.”

Two things, 1. skin color 2. ideological arrogance

________________________________________________________________________________________

3. the enabling and worshipful media.

[bert]

Since there is no budget and the government is operating under a continuing resolution, there is no appropriated funding to continue. Any funds spent have been expended without congressional approval

[GeronL]

they won’t mind doing that.

A crisis will not be allowed to be wasted.

[tobyhill]

There's no Constitutional Crisis since the judge just ruled it's unconstitutional and the law will be ignored.

[The Comedian]

Today is a good day to die.
I didn't say for whom.

[Tzimisce]

This is a disturbing development....

[taildragger]

OK.....

Let me go out on a limb..

What if the judge issues not a stay but a Quo Warranto to Obama, i.e. under what authority do you have to proceed?

Maybe he could do what the auto dealer Diforino couldn't. Man that would get him reaching for the Peptobismal...

[PghBaldy]

IIRC, Obama mentioned (not by name, but by implication- I read the transcript) that in either the SOTU or another recent speech, saying it should be done away with.

[PghBaldy]

Obama: We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses. (Applause.)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/25/remarks-president-state-union-address

[WayneS]

Atually, he said “...we have three branches of government, the house the senate and the presidency..”

Of course, if Michelle Bachmann or Sarah Palin had made such a stupid blunder, you would not have to be concerned about having trouble finding the sound bite...

...it would be EVERYWHERE, every minute of every day for several weeks.

[WayneS]

What? The Constitution?

[DBeers]

It would seem that the national 0bamacare push is but cover for the international communist/islamic revolution/jihad that 0marxo Hussein promotes. Many are so busy watching the national right hand that they do not pay attention to the international left hand...