The Hot Theory on How the Supreme Court Gets to a 6-3 Vote to Uphold Obamacare

Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | March 30, 2012 | Rush Limbaugh

[KansasGirl]

I thought that was Alito.

[Tublecane]

“whatever happens in Congress is fine and dandy, and it has to be a real breach before they move in and take it away from ‘em”

I don’t believe they actually feel that way, or if they do only in particular cases, depending on the justice’s ideology. But what about when the law in question is wildly unpopular, completely unprecedented (on the national level), and was passed through the most open and blunt chicanery I’ve ever witnessed?

[Tublecane]

“Do we really think that Chief Justice Roberts would allow Kagan to sit in on the hearings if he didn’t know how Kennedy was going to vote?”

Yes.

[traditional1]

Oops...you're right, I said Roberts and it was Sam Alito.

Thanks.

[Tublecane]

It was Alito. The MSM pretended like he was equivalent to Joe Wilson, none of them mentioning that Obama was lying about, or at least misrepresenting, the Citizens United decision (saying it would allow foreign corporations to fund campaigns, or something).

[supercat]

I don't believe that the Chief Justice has the ability to deny any SC justice the ability to hear and rule on a case for any reason. Such power would effectively give the Chief Justice the ability to select which justices would get to decide every case.

That is true, but the Court has no authority to compel any other court or administrative body to apply its rulings to anything other than the parties involved with the case at hand. Its rulings are given wider respect than that because they are generally assumed to have a legitimate Constitutional basis, and because few people want to act in a way which, were it brought before the Supreme Court, would be ruled illegitimate.

In a 5-4 decision where the minority were to call out the majority decision as being illegitimate, not least of all because one of the justices rendering was doing so in clearly-illegal fashion, and where the minority's opinion had a sound rational base behind it and the majority opinion did not, I suspect a lot of people would recognize that the legitimate decision was the "minority" one. Many sports' rules have language explicitly stating that certain officials' judgments have absolute authority: if the ball rolls across the plate in front of a motionless batter but the Home Plate Umpire calls strike, it's a strike. No such language exists in the Constitution. The Supreme Court has no authority to issue rulings contrary to the Constitution, and any such rulings it may issue have no legitimacy.

[Major Matt Mason]

What this theory relies on is justices, particularly the chief, doing two things: caring more about what is thought of the court at the end of this, in terms of its reputation.

The SC's reputation will be absolutely destroyed with about 60% of this country if they say that Obamacare is constitutional.

[Eldon Tyrell]

The Constitution does not control the citizens - it is meant to control the government - so = no Constitution.

[Terry Mross]

I’ve said previously I wouldn’t be surprised if the ruling iss “The government can make you buy healthcare but don’t think for a minute we intend this to mean the government can make you buy a Chevy. We will considered all future forced purchases on an individual basis.”

[lentulusgracchus]

Exactly what I have been thinking--Kagan will pass the word to the WH. If it favors them, they will leak it to their friends in the media.

Interesting thought. Praying for silence.

[lentulusgracchus]

What do we do with Congressmen and Senators who publicly state that they don’t care about the Constitution even though they took an oath to uphold it?

I've had a couple of ideas for a while about that.

• Sever New England and downstate New York and expel them from the Union.
• Introduce the Athenian ostracon, and allow citizens to expel certain obnoxious people, send them into exile.
• Introduce the Roman censorate, and constitute a fourth branch of Government whose sole duty will be to expel certain officeholders and lobbyists from public life, either temporarily or for life, and insulate the censors as much as possible.

For what it's worth.

[greenhornet68]

If we see a smile like this, we will know the FIX IS IN!