**Originally posted Tuesday, bumped up for Thursday’s decision**
Thursday 6/28 Links:
Supreme Court Upholds Mandate as Tax
FYI, Kennedy wanted to strike the entire act. Read his entire dissent from the bench, highly unusual for him.
CNN: What the health care ruling means to you [if Obama is re-elected]
Also today: Supreme Court strikes down Stolen Valor Act
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Reuters: Supreme Court to deliver Obama healthcare law ruling
Business Insider: Here’s How Obama Will Hear About The Supreme Court’s Healthcare Ruling
NBC: Romney calls Obamacare ‘moral failure’ on eve of Supreme Court ruling
Analysis: Republicans may take aim at Holder in court
Black caucus to stage walkout during Holder contempt vote in House
What follows the Holder contempt vote?
Eric Holder mingles at Congressional picnic before contempt vote
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Tuesday’s previous links:
**Scroll down for updates**
With this being the last week of the Supreme Court’s term, both the ObamaCare and Arizona immigration cases will be handed down. This post is your open thread until we find out what the Supremes decide.
In the meantime, here are a few links to give you some assessments about what this very important week holds.
Forbes: Regardless of ObamaCare Decision, SCOTUSblog Has Already Won
Everything you need to know about Obamacare and SCOTUS in one post
ACLJ: Possible Outcomes from the ObamaCare Decision
WaPo: For Obama, Supreme Court health-care, immigration rulings to close a tough term
UPDATE 1030am ET: There will be no ObamaCare decision today but the decision on Arizona’s immigration bill was released, a mixed bag.
They also reversed a Montana campaign finance law, and determined that sentencing a minor to life in prison without parole is unconstitutional, cruel and unusual punishment.
From WonkWire, here’s a roundup of today’s decisions:
The Court has summarily overturned Montana’s strict campaign finance law limiting corporate election contribution in a 5 to 4 decision. Here is the one-page per curiam decision and the dissent from Justice Breyer.
The Court ruled 5 to 4 that sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without the possibility of parole violates the Eighth Amendment. Here is the opinion by Justice Kagan, with a concurring opinion by Justice Breyer, a dissenting opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, a dissenting opinion by Justice Thomas, and a dissenting opinion by Justice Alito.
The Court has invalidated most of the key provisions of SB 1070, the Arizona immigration law, saying they are preempted by federal law in a 5 to 3 ruling. This does not include one of the most controversial provisions that allows police officers to check a person’s immigration status. Here is the opinion by Justice Kennedy, with Justice Scalia concurring and dissenting in part, Justice Thomas concurring and dissenting in part, and Justice Alito concurring and dissenting in part. Justice Kagan did not take part in the case because she oversaw the federal government’s role in the case as Solicitor General.
The Court will not rule on the health care reform law today.
Looks like the rest of the decisions, including ObamaCare, will be decided Thursday, the last day of the term.
I think OFA should go for broke, take all Obama campaign dollars and bet them on Intrade.com that the individual mandate will NOT be ruled unconstitutional.
Prediction! Supreme Court: Obamacare Individual Mandate Defeated!…7-2.
posted 6/25 840am Texas[Game On!]Time
Unfortunately, the individual mandate is, I think, the ONLY thing they’ll overturn. They’ll NEVER overturn the whole thing.
Pray for America. Pray for the court and their safety. Pray for our country’s future.
Justice Kennedy needs to grow a pair… if his emotional decision-making on the Arizona law is any portent of things to come, we may be in trouble on the health care law… 🙁
What was vital was the SCOTUS upholding a key provision in SB1070 that was blocked by courts two years ago when the law went into effect: law enforcement being able to inquire on one’s legal status when reasonable suspicion is raised. That is what the Obama administration falsely labeled as ‘racist’ policy in 2010 – after admitting they never actually read SB1070.
I’m not too concerned about a part that was struck down making it a crime in AZ if an illegal applied for work in this state; we have laws making it a crime for employers to hire illegals and those have been – and are – enforced. Plus, having the cuffs taken off law enforcement will deter many illegals from seeking work here anyway.
Of course, there are other aspects of SB1070 that can be rewritten, but overall, I do see this as a victory when the SCOTUS upheld a key provision because now, it will motivate other states to follow. It’s also fun to see a kick delivered to the crotch (if it exists) of Barack Obama.
There is a downside to the fact that law enforcement have to report to ICE who have been instructed to basically selectively enforce law (catch & release memo; Obama’s implicit executive order) and the fact the federal government was cited in the court decision as the supreme power in immigration matters, but I think this is an opportunity for the country to get involved at the state level and continue challenging the fed on this matter.
Yes, Obama will claim ‘victory’ on this matter to some degree, but the truth is the justices upheld the main fabric of the bill. Loved Scalia’s statement, btw!
Kennedy has a pair; Roberts is the gelding.
Supreme Court to deliver healthcare ruling on Thursday http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/234513-tensions-soar-as-high-court-skips-healthcare-decision
I am trying not to read to deeply into why the supreme court is waiting until Thursday to disclose their ruling. Get out of dodge day? It seems to me it could go either way.
I’m glad that the part that required the police to make inquiry as to the status of an arrestee was upheld as constitutional.
The immigration bleeding hearts are still apoplectic and one I heard on the radio was so mad, she didn’t know whether to fart or wind her wristwatch over it!
I get the sense that the Roberts Court is trying to tread daintily through the minefield of controversy. That is, there seems to be something of a goal of avoiding, as much as is possible, stark winners and stark losers. And I can see some sense to that philosophy, with respect to national cohesion. A large part of our dissatisfaction stems from a perception of a government that is not only wrong and harmful but also out of touch with most of its people. So, if that’s the course of the Court, I might expect a relatively nuanced ruling on Obamacare. And, this late in the game, I’m not anxious for any ruling at all. With the election drawing near, either the government will push back towards sanity (including a repeal of Obamacare), or it will seal our doom (in that it will, among other deadly offenses, find some way to seize control of private medical decisions, and never mind the Constitution). So, however much excitement this generates, the Obamacare ruling is somewhat academic.
Building the narrative: The aptly named Mr. Fallows offers this distilled version of a longer article in anticipation of SCOTUS decision on OFA: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/5-signs-the-united-states-is-undergoing-a-coup/258904/
Even more distilled version: It’s all going to hell and it started with BUSH!
Should be ACA not OFA (Obama F’s America), although…
So following the SCOTUS decision upholding that AZ can ask about immigration status, the BHO administration cancels the program that deputizes State law enforcement. Chicago thug through and through. If you cross him in any way, he will retaliate vengefully.
On a side note, it’s summer and I haven’t heard of any Mooch vacay plans. Is it possible that she’s not going to the Costa del Sol because of the conservative complaints of her excess? Sadly hilarious that she can’t figure out that if she cut down on the number of people who go with her, she wouldn’t get the criticism.
SCOTUS told the states it is up to the whim of the federal government when it comes to immigration. It is a significant concession that state police can inquire as to immigration status. However, if the federal government lets it be known they will not enforce immigration law, inquiring about status is useful only as local intimidation.
When it comes to immigration “reform”, the mantra is these people are doing work Americans won’t do. When it comes to the DREAM Act, we are told we are wasting a great treasure of professionals, scientists and business leaders by punishing children brought in illegally by their parents. These are jobs Americans, hopefully, do want. Now, after decades of neglecting the border we are told the Hispanic vote is the pivotal demographic in choosing the next president. How many of those crucial voters are children and grandchildren of illegals? This was a demographic time bomb planted by politicians.
This is not a racist gripe. I am married to a dark-skinned immigrant. I welcome those who want to find a better life in America legally. The American people have had their country stolen out from under them for political opportunism. Many Republicans are trying to undermine Obama’s overwhelming support among Hispanics by pointing out he did not push for an immigration reform bill.
Politicians, Democrats and Republicans, are ready to hang up the SOLD sign on America.
For a legal analysis of the Arizona decision, Mark Levin (download his free podcast 6/25/2010) has a lot to say from the perspective of a conservative attorney and Constitutional Scholar.
He says we’re asking the court to be logical and consistent and it is neither.
I’m drifting off topic to an Appeals Court action that Tammy linked, “Appeals court upholds EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions”. I think most people don’t understand what’s been going on here. We’ve become so used to the government doing whatever it wants that we’ve forgotten that there’s supposed to be some sort of an underlying process of lawmaking. You know, a Constitution, an act of Congress, that sort of thing. So the Feds are regulating greenhouse gases…but under what law did they get the authority?
Ah, the Clean Air Act. But, as you see, the Clean Air Act was about pollution. Smoke, sulfur, stuff you shouldn’t be breathing. Nobody who passed that law regarded carbon dioxide as pollution. But along comes a court and declares it to be. And suddenly everything in the world, including literally every breath you take, becomes subject to government control. (Note that a law couldn’t get passed; that’s why Obama didn’t get the cap-and-trade bill he wanted. Good thing for Obama we don’t need laws anymore.)
Wow, that’s a hell of a court ruling. As I recall, when this court ruling went down while George Bush was president, Bush said he wasn’t going to use this power that the courts handed him. But the candidate of “change” has no such compunctions. So the citizens of America can now be told to stop breathing by their president, and nobody even passed a law. It was all just creative interpretation by the best minds of the era. The clever boys at work again.
Can you believe it? When does the insanity end?
That’s it! We’ve GOT to abolish the EPA! Them, and the BATF, and, yes, even the DHS. They’re just the vehicles the latest marxist in the white house use to push us further and further towards totalitarianism.
Starting to worry that Mandate will be upheld, however, if not, Obama will act the fool and Americans will finally lose any respect or friendliness toward him.
Thank you, George W. Bush, for giving us that wonderful conservative Supreme Court justice, John Roberts. Like your father did before with David Souter you gave us an outstanding legal mind who strictly interprets the Constitution. God bless you, President Bush. You are the gift who keeps on giving.
/sarc
I will NOT be celebrating on July 4th this year. There is nothing to celebrate. Thanks, Supreme Court. #EpicFail
AS Rush just said,”Liberty has just met its death panel”.
July 4 is a holiday?
I understand in the ruling the court explained that the government can’t mandate that an individual buy anything under the Constitution’s commerce clause, but yet it *can* tax an individual for not complying with a government mandate to buy something?
It’s like Catch-22! “We can’t *make* you buy insurance of course son, but we’ll sure penalize you if you *don’t*!”
Absurd and scary.
Exactly my thoughts. Commerce Clause doesn’t apply to make you buy insurance but power to tax applies if you don’t. This kind of illogic came through in the AZ decision too. OK for local police to ask for proof of legal status but nothing they can do about it if person found to be illegal.
Welcome to the end of America. The federal government has a trump card for everything.
Though I was initially happy the Supreme Court held up the heart of SB1070, we now know it doesn’t matter because the fed is refusing to carry out their duty under the law. No one will make them do it, either. Now, we get the same ‘reasoning’ being applied to Obamacare. It’s like circular reasoning when it comes down to it.
We are watching states being forced to come under the umbrella of a centralized government. You’re right, Pat – this is the end of America. Though I want to believe we will do the right thing in November, I’m mindful of what we have in the WH and the lengths he will go to in order to stay in power.
I’ve long argued that most of what the modern Federal Gov’t does is not authorized by the Constitution and thus illegal. We’ve moved so far into the realm of statism that I wouldn’t have taken comfort even if the Court had entirely tossed out Obamacare. The free nation is being ceaselessly pummeled; does it matter that we dodge a bullet or two here and there? So, considering the unsatisfying alternatives, I’ll allow for the possibility that this turn of events will be for the best, or at least not for the worst. The autocratic power of the Federal Gov’t, and the lies of Obama (“This is not a tax!”) have been nakedly exposed. The man on the street (that is, the man who has a job or hopes to get one) does not like to be controlled. He understands the boot on his neck, and he sees whose foot is in that boot. If we don’t have victory, perhaps we have clarity. And if clarity cannot lead us to a greater victory, then we’ve lost our humanity and we may as well live as serfs. But I’m not yet giving up on the former option.
I wish I could say I didn’t see this coming, but I had a bad feeling all along. The SCOTUS never fails to disappoint. This isn’t the first time they mistook the room where the Constitution is stored for the closet where they keep the toilet paper.
Rush—“Largest tax increase in the history of mankind”!!
Time for us to go Galt!!!!
Welcome to the third world. America is now gone. Fascism is here. A November miracle can bring us back to life but it has to be a MASSIVE landslide with both houses going big for us as well.
Make no mistake, George Bush strikes again.
I believe Tammy is correct! I think this will not be a win for 0 what’s his name!
This will help Romney!
the worst part about all this, is WE’VE ALREADY LOST THE SUPREME COURT!..this will go down as the lowest point in supreme court history…it’s gonna be a long road back…
Un. Freaking. Believable. What has happened to our beloved country? Rush says… “this is going to make the Tea Party boil”. I am certainly boiling right now…or is is a Tammy-style head explosion? Either way, I had a bad feeling on this, after the Arizona ruling.
But mostly, I am deeply saddened. Glad to see Romney cashing in on this immediately, but Dear Leader is going to be gloating and insuffrable. Pelosi is already spiking the football. Barf bag, please.
Sigh…
Glaring truth: insurance is not healthcare.
Health insurance isn’t even insurance.
the two biggest problems about this lousy ruling, is that
1) it shows that we’ve LOST the supreme court until the justices can be replaced..& that ALL of the branches of govt are out of control
2) it sets a horribly dangerous precident for future rulings…
whatever is up in the sky…. help us!..lol …just kiddin, but it’s really UP TO US to fix all of this mess.
Urkel for EX-President !
I am not blowing sunshine or listening to the happy talk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7JY-pn-OkM&feature=player_embedded