Saturday, June 30, 2012

Oops.

So much for prognostications in this day and age.

Chief Justice Roberts, himself a conservative’s conservative, sided with the liberal wing of the Supreme Court and upheld all but a minor portion of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Roberts argued that the individual mandate was not a regulation of commerce, something not within the purview of Congress, but that it was, in fact, a tax, something that is well within the scope of Congress.
So it’s back to the drafting board for the Republicans who wish to deny millions of Americans of their right to health.
Not this time.
But I am still struck by how momentous decisions like this one depends on one single person. Nine people sit on the Supreme Court bench, but in this case, 8 of the votes were of a certainty. It is as if Chief Justice Roberts alone made the decision to uphold “Obamacare.”
And that is too much power for a single person to wield.

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