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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Issue for the Supreme Court Is Not Obamacare, But Obama
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was lambasted as a turncoat, traitor and betrayer by conservatives when he cast the deciding fifth vote in 2012 upholding the constitutional soundness of the Affordable Care Act. This allowed states and the federal government to put in an array of measures to fully implement the act. That didn't end the matter. Conservatives dug deep and found a provision buried in the law that purports that only states and not the federal government can set up insurance exchanges. The case is King vs. Burwell. If the court upholds the challenge it would nullify the subsidies in the form of IRS approved tax credits that the millions who signed up for coverage in those states receive.
The case is far more than just another of the never ending challenges to the act. It's a politically loaded challenge to President Obama. The GOP and conservatives bank on its four trump cards on the court, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, and yes Roberts, to gut the act.
They may get their wish this time with Roberts. Despite his momentary defection in upholding the law three years ago, he and the other three justices, along with Anthony Kennedy, have turned the number 5 to 4 into a fine art. That's their reflexive vote against any and every Obama administration position, initiative, or piece of legislation that's challenged and winds up before the court.
In the Hobby Lobby ruling they, and Kennedy, ruled that privately-held corporations can refuse on religious grounds to cover the cost of contraceptives for its employees was typical. It was a blow to the Act. The ruling, though, was the standard template for Robert and the others war on Obama. They, and Kennedy, have ruled more than a dozen times that Obama has allegedly badly abused his constitutional authority in decisions, appointments, and court appeals. They undergirded the GOP's relentless gripe that Obama is a serial constitutional usurper.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/the-issue-for-the-supreme-court-obamacare_b_6816934.html
muntrv
(14,505 posts)NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)hatred for Obama is going to rule the day, that and the stupidity of Clarence Thomas.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)this is the real story of the Republican Party and their dislike of a possible economic threat that might come form anyone working for real wages. To this day,cannot understand why anyone that is a rank and file worker of any company would vote for any Republican Politician unless they suffer from some form of mental issues. Robert's history leaves one to think he just plain and simple dislikes all work a day Americans and has through his career only panders for his social status and enrichment.