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"In this case, however, it is reasonable to construe what Congress has done as increasing taxes on those who have a certain amount of income, but choose to go without health insurance. Such legislation is within Congress’s power to tax."
-- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Thus spoke the chief justice in the majority opinion upholding Obama's universal healthcare law. Which has been a bit of a shock. Expectations were running heavy that Roberts and the Court would trash the healthcare law with its individual mandate for people to purchase health insurance. Even so, I cannot feel celebratory. This healthcare law is actually more of a Republican animal. It is what the Republicans proposed as a compromise for universal healthcare, that is, until they decided that they might not need to compromise at all. We still keep the pointless middle-men, the private insurers, in the game; we have to get our healthcare through them. Personally, I could not afford their product before and I cannot afford it now. Some are apparently arguing that we may need to re-evaluate Roberts, that maybe he is not a hardline ideologue after all. I don't think we need to do much rethinking. Great, he is not foaming at the mouth like a "Fox and Friends" devotee and Rush Limbaugh dittohead, but conservatives and Republicans need not feel betrayed.
_ _ _
Many scholars have said that Chief Justice Roberts sought to balance his own conservatism with his desire to build faith in the law and the nation’s legal institutions. But it was still striking to hear Mr. Roberts, who arrived on the court in 2005 appointed by George W. Bush, announce the upholding of the central legislative pillar of the Obama administration. He did arrive on the bench asserting the desire to restore the court’s reputation and reduce partisan rhetoric. But he was seen by many, at least on the left, as a right-winger more devoted to conservative politics than the purity of the law. That could change.
“This could be a huge day in the evolution of Chief Justice Roberts as a great chief justice,” Laurence H. Tribe, the liberal Harvard law professor, said. Mr. Tribe, who taught Mr. Roberts, said he had not opposed his nomination because he believed Mr. Roberts was less of an ideologue than many charged. “I have some sense of gratification,” he said.
In the past, especially on campaign finance law but also on other socially sensitive issues like abortion and affirmative action, Chief Justice Roberts has not shied away from leading a conservative redraft of previously established law, causing some to accuse him of judicial activism.
But in this case, by referring to Congress’s power to impose a tax rather than a mandate, Chief Justice Roberts used the Obama administration’s backup argument about what makes the health care law constitutional.
But in this case, by referring to Congress’s power to impose a tax rather than a mandate, Chief Justice Roberts used the Obama administration’s backup argument about what makes the health care law constitutional.
If President Bush ends up ruing the day he placed Mr. Roberts in his position, he would not be the first. His father appointed David H. Souter to the court and he ended up a mainstay of the court’s liberal wing. Dwight D. Eisenhower was said to have called his appointments of Earl Warren and William J. Brennan Jr. two of his biggest mistakes.
-- Ethan Bronner at The New York Times
-- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Thus spoke the chief justice in the majority opinion upholding Obama's universal healthcare law. Which has been a bit of a shock. Expectations were running heavy that Roberts and the Court would trash the healthcare law with its individual mandate for people to purchase health insurance. Even so, I cannot feel celebratory. This healthcare law is actually more of a Republican animal. It is what the Republicans proposed as a compromise for universal healthcare, that is, until they decided that they might not need to compromise at all. We still keep the pointless middle-men, the private insurers, in the game; we have to get our healthcare through them. Personally, I could not afford their product before and I cannot afford it now. Some are apparently arguing that we may need to re-evaluate Roberts, that maybe he is not a hardline ideologue after all. I don't think we need to do much rethinking. Great, he is not foaming at the mouth like a "Fox and Friends" devotee and Rush Limbaugh dittohead, but conservatives and Republicans need not feel betrayed.
_ _ _
Many scholars have said that Chief Justice Roberts sought to balance his own conservatism with his desire to build faith in the law and the nation’s legal institutions. But it was still striking to hear Mr. Roberts, who arrived on the court in 2005 appointed by George W. Bush, announce the upholding of the central legislative pillar of the Obama administration. He did arrive on the bench asserting the desire to restore the court’s reputation and reduce partisan rhetoric. But he was seen by many, at least on the left, as a right-winger more devoted to conservative politics than the purity of the law. That could change.
“This could be a huge day in the evolution of Chief Justice Roberts as a great chief justice,” Laurence H. Tribe, the liberal Harvard law professor, said. Mr. Tribe, who taught Mr. Roberts, said he had not opposed his nomination because he believed Mr. Roberts was less of an ideologue than many charged. “I have some sense of gratification,” he said.
In the past, especially on campaign finance law but also on other socially sensitive issues like abortion and affirmative action, Chief Justice Roberts has not shied away from leading a conservative redraft of previously established law, causing some to accuse him of judicial activism.
But in this case, by referring to Congress’s power to impose a tax rather than a mandate, Chief Justice Roberts used the Obama administration’s backup argument about what makes the health care law constitutional.
But in this case, by referring to Congress’s power to impose a tax rather than a mandate, Chief Justice Roberts used the Obama administration’s backup argument about what makes the health care law constitutional.
If President Bush ends up ruing the day he placed Mr. Roberts in his position, he would not be the first. His father appointed David H. Souter to the court and he ended up a mainstay of the court’s liberal wing. Dwight D. Eisenhower was said to have called his appointments of Earl Warren and William J. Brennan Jr. two of his biggest mistakes.
-- Ethan Bronner at The New York Times
