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Justice Roberts: Can the government make you buy a cell phone?
politico ^ | Marhc 27 2012 | BYRON TAU

Posted on 03/27/2012 12:09:57 PM PDT by NoLibZone

Opponents of the individual mandate provision of President Obama's health care law contend that if the government can force you to buy health insurance, its powers of compulsion are virtually unlimited. Chief Justice John Roberts wonders what else Washington can force citizens to buy in this exchange:

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, the same, it seems to me, would be true say for the market in emergency services: police, fire, ambulance, roadside assistance, whatever. You don't know when you're going to need it; you're not sure that you will. But the same is true for health care. You don't know if you're going to need a heart transplant or if you ever will. So there is a market there. To -- in some extent, we all participate in it. So can the government require you to buy a cell phone because that would facilitate responding when you need emergency services? You can just dial 911 no matter where you are?

GENERAL VERRILLI: No, Mr. Chief Justice. think that's different. It's -- We -- I don't think we think of that as a market. This is a market. This is market regulation. And in addition, you have a situation in this market not only where people enter involuntarily as to when they enter and won't be able to control what they need when they enter but when they --

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News
KEYWORDS: justicekennedy; obamacare; scotusobamacare; scotusocareday2
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1 posted on 03/27/2012 12:10:12 PM PDT by NoLibZone
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To: NoLibZone

No, but the government gives them away if you get any form of welfare....


2 posted on 03/27/2012 12:14:14 PM PDT by PeachyKeen
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To: NoLibZone

I would ask can the government force you to buy cell phones for yourself and for others.


3 posted on 03/27/2012 12:14:17 PM PDT by PoloSec ( Believe the Gospel: how that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again)
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To: NoLibZone

Two best parts of Bush legacy — Roberts and Alito.


4 posted on 03/27/2012 12:14:32 PM PDT by nhwingut (Sarah Palin 12... No One Else (Maybe Tim Thomas))
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To: NoLibZone

Question to Justice Roberts:
Can the government force you to buy food, by denying you the right to grow your own?


5 posted on 03/27/2012 12:17:01 PM PDT by An.American.Expatriate (Here's my strategy on the War against Terrorism: We win, they lose. - with apologies to R.R.)
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To: NoLibZone

Roberts and other members of the court recognize council’s arguments as simply niggardly.


6 posted on 03/27/2012 12:17:31 PM PDT by Arcy
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To: NoLibZone
" We -- I don't think we think of that as a market. This is a market. This is market regulation. And in addition, you have a situation in this market not only where people enter involuntarily as to when they enter and won't be able to control what they need when they enter but when they -- ",/i>

What the hell is this "market" baloney and what does it have to do with the question asked: Can the government force you to buy a cell phone... or a toaster (you need food) or a windmill (we all have to participate to make the 'green energy' market effective)

7 posted on 03/27/2012 12:17:43 PM PDT by Mr. K (If Romney wins the primary, I am writing-in PALIN)
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To: NoLibZone
Cell Phones, burials....none are directly related.

CHILDBIRTH IS.

The government is arguing that if you don't buy health insurance, you MAY burden the state with unpaid healthcare costs down the road.

But if you "choose" to have a child, the government will easily be able to make the case that you will be adding to the costs of society for infrastructure, for trash collection, for the CO2 that your child will breathe out.

Thus, the government should be able to have a say in who gives birth, how many times, and which ones.

8 posted on 03/27/2012 12:18:10 PM PDT by sam_paine (X .................................)
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To: NoLibZone
" We -- I don't think we think of that as a market. This is a market. This is market regulation. And in addition, you have a situation in this market not only where people enter involuntarily as to when they enter and won't be able to control what they need when they enter but when they -- "

What the hell is this "market" baloney and what does it have to do with the question asked: Can the government force you to buy a cell phone... or a toaster (you need food) or a windmill (we all have to participate to make the 'green energy' market effective)

9 posted on 03/27/2012 12:18:44 PM PDT by Mr. K (If Romney wins the primary, I am writing-in PALIN)
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To: NoLibZone

Next the government will force us to buy Chevy Volts


10 posted on 03/27/2012 12:23:30 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Go Newt!)
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To: Arcy
Jackson & Sharpton will soon accuse you of racism for using niggardly.

They'll do it as they are too lazy to use the dictionary to find the actual meaning of the word.

11 posted on 03/27/2012 12:23:56 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: NoLibZone

These justices sounded like Rush Limbaugh with the questions they were asking. That Solicitor General is gonna need a few months in therapy.


12 posted on 03/27/2012 12:27:04 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: sam_paine

With 154 million workers and 5.2 million pregnancies a year....

$1 a month from each of the workers in the abortion care program will generate $360 a year per pregnancy... Abortions cost $350, at the end of the day enough to terminate every pregnancy in the coverage group.


13 posted on 03/27/2012 12:29:43 PM PDT by rwilson99 (Please tell me how the words "shall not perish and have everlasting life" would NOT apply to Mary.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009
"Next the government will force us to buy Chevy Volts..."

Sorry but you are behind a few chapters on this story, we already are paying for Chevy Volts, about 100 Billion worth when we bailed out GM.

14 posted on 03/27/2012 12:30:36 PM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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To: An.American.Expatriate

There was some speculation earlier that this decision could overturn WvF...

That piece of crap needs slapped down, or the leftists WILL tax you on your backyard garden, if only to keep you from being independent.


15 posted on 03/27/2012 12:32:55 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: SandRat

“I don’t care what the dictionary says it means. The guy who said it is white, so he’s a racist!”


16 posted on 03/27/2012 12:34:15 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: NoLibZone
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So can the government require you to buy a cell phone because that would facilitate responding when you need emergency services? ...

GENERAL VERRILLI: No, Mr. Chief Justice....I don't think we think of that as a market.

Verizon, AT&T Wireless, Sprint, etc. all better immediatly file suits in federal court stating they no longer should be governed by federal regulation, since cell phone service isn't, by the government's admission in open court, a "market," and therefore is not subject to the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution.

17 posted on 03/27/2012 12:40:57 PM PDT by Thane_Banquo (Support hate crime laws: Because some victims are more equal than others.)
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To: MrB
That piece of crap needs slapped down, or the leftists WILL tax you on your backyard garden, if only to keep you from being independent.

It's already illegal to collect rainwater on your own property in certain states.

18 posted on 03/27/2012 12:42:19 PM PDT by BlatherNaut
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To: NoLibZone

They are taking our money and using it to give out free cellphones and free high speed internet by levying taxes on providers to fund free stuff for people.


19 posted on 03/27/2012 12:42:29 PM PDT by dforest
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To: NoLibZone

Nice question by Roberts. It’s very much on point, despite the SG’s reply.


20 posted on 03/27/2012 12:45:51 PM PDT by Mr. Bird
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