Did Scalia Parrot Fox News During Health-Care Arguments?

The Daily Beast ^ | April 5, 2012 | Matthew DeLuca

[IndePundit]

Is Roger Ailes clerking for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia?

One might be forgiven for thinking so following last week’s oral arguments on the health-care law before the nation’s highest court.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, some of Scalia’s questions from the bench made use of the tone and even the diction of the attacks on the Affordable Care Act frequently heard on Fox News and conservative talk-radio shows.

After Scalia picked up on the idea that a government empowered to have its citizens buy health insurance or face a penalty may also strong arm them into buy some other good, such as broccoli, Charles Fried, who served as solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan, told The Washington Post that the court was trumpeting “the most tendentious of the Tea Party arguments.”

“I even heard about broccoli,” Fried said. “The whole broccoli argument is beneath contempt. To hear it come from the bench was depressing.”

On the second day of arguments, Scalia did indeed invoke the humble crucifer.

“Why do you define the market that broadly?” Scalia asked Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. “Could you define the market? Everybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food. Therefore everybody is in the market, therefore you can make people buy broccoli.”

[DanMiller]

The broccoli argument was featured in Judge Vinson's early decision on ObamaCare. The point he was making is that if ObamaCare were to be held a valid exercise of Congressional authority under the Commerce Clause, no clear line between what is valid and what is not could be drawn for judicial review. In that event, the courts could not review, and would have to rubber stamp, any extension of Congressional authority under Article I, Section 8.

I think it's an entirely reasonable argument.

[rawcatslyentist]

They already FORCE FARMERS to NOT GROW certain crops. They even pay big $$$ to the connected ones. The little ones they just rape, loot, and pillage, uh prosecute.

The Commie Coercion Claws need to be repealed!

[rawcatslyentist]

>":she is liable to hop her broom and torment somebody out of their dinner."

Or send her flying monkeys to steal 4th graders lunches!

[the invisib1e hand]

I think it's safe to say that Justice Scalia "parrots" noone.

But that won't prevent mindless leftwing parrots from claiming it.

[RedMDer]

Click

[jimfree]

If anything Fox parroted Scalia.

[madison10]

I think it's an entirely reasonable argument.

So FOX was the one "parroting" and Justice Scalia was referring to that argument. I think it's an entirely reasonable argument as well.

[newzjunkey]

SHHHHHHHHH!! Stop injecting facts and context! You'll ruin it for them.

/sarcasm