SCOTUS Tortures Constitution: PPACA

Marktet Ticker ^ | 28 June 2012 | Karl Denninger

[Lorianne]

The USSC upheld Obamacare by, basically, twisting the Constitution into a pretzel, crapping on it, whizzing on that and then eating it.

Finding first that the Commerce Clause bars the government from compelling one to enter into commerce, the analysis then turned to whether there was any way to save the constitutionality of the act.

The justices found one.

They re-interpreted the penalty clause as a tax.

And of course, Congress can levy taxes.

[Lorianne]

Why can't Congress just repeal the penalty clause, since it is a now deemed a tax?

[Windflier]

If this is now a "tax", as Roberts claims, then Congress will have to tell us what they're taxing.

They won't be able to do it, because it's not a tax at all. It's a fine, pure and simple. This will prove to be a massive fail on Roberts' part.

[Dr. Thorne]

My post from Monday:

ANALYSIS: Today’s Ruling in the Arizona Immigration Case (Not a victory for Arizona)
Monday, June 25, 2012 2:16:33 PM · 12 of 35

Dr. Thorne to FlipWilson

Kennedy is more than a coward. He's a also a simpleton. I've read some of his opinions and found them laughable especially when he contradicts himself.

More troubling than Kennedy's stupidity is the acquiescence of Chief Justice John Roberts. This may portend trouble with the Obamacare decision.

George W. Bush appointed Roberts. Don't forget that poppy dearest George H.W. "New World Order" Bush appointed the turncoat and congenital idiot, David Souter, to the bench. Like father, like son?

The responsibility for this act of Treason lies directly with George W. Bush. He is a closet liberal and always has been just like the elitist scum that spawned him.

That said, John Roberts will go down in history as one of vilest traitors to American freedom. His name will be remembered with Benedict Arnold, the Rosenbergs and Robert Hansen.

[cuban leaf]

—Why can’t Congress just repeal the penalty clause, since it is a now deemed a tax?—

Because they didn’t want to. Now the ball’s in the congress’ court, or the court of the first person to pay the tax who can then sue that it is unconstitutional.

Can kicking is a major form of exercise for world leaders, these days. Nobody want’s responsibility for the riots on their head.

[History Repeats]

Roberts should be taken out and hung like the rest of these liberal fools.

He’s no conservative.

[fortheDeclaration]

Actually this is a poison pill, the Democrats are now left defending a new tax on EVERYONE, not just the rich.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Now the ball’s in the congress’ court, or the court of the first person to pay the tax who can then sue that it is unconstitutional. Can kicking is a major form of exercise for world leaders, these days. Nobody want’s responsibility for the riots on their head.

Congress can (and probably will) repeal it. But the first person to pay cannot challenge it as unconstitutional. The Court did not rely on the Anti-Injuction Act, which bars challenges to taxes before they're paid. It found that the Anti-Injunction Act did not apply, then went on to consider the constitutionality of the individual mandate, and held that it was invalid as a regulation of commerce but valid as a tax. So the constitutionality of the mandate-as-tax has already been decided.

[old republic]

Roberts is a traitor, but we should also demand an immediate Congressional Oversight/ criminal investigation into Kagan for not Recusing herself in Obamacare. This Obamacare decision should be vacated owing to Kagan's conflict of interest in sitting on the case while holding a conflict of interest. If found guilty by the House Investigation she should be impeached and removed from the bench, and sent to jail for violating the law. The Obamacare could then be appealed to SCOTUS again since the original decision must be vacated owing to Kagan's involvment. Maybe Darell Issa could take up this investigation along with the Fast and Furious investigation.

"As solicitor general of the United States, Justice Elena Kagan served as the head of an office responsible for formulating the Obama administration’s legal defense of its domestic agenda priority — Obamacare. "

"According to Section 455(b)(3) of Title 28 of the U.S. Code, justices must disqualify themselves in cases where they have “served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as counsel, adviser, or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case or controversy.” In United States v. Gipson, the Tenth Circuit held that judges must recuse themselves if they have “previously taken a part, albeit small, in the investigation, preparation, or prosecution of a case.” Other courts have suggested that, merely by virtue of a lawyer’s position as the head of an office during the preparation of a case, he or she is disqualified to sit as a judge on that case."

"Previously undisclosed e-mails that the Justice Department has released pursuant to court order demonstrate Kagan’s direct involvement in the administration’s defense of the president’s health law from the very beginning. "

http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/291832/kagan-must-recuse-herself-obamacare-case-sen-jeff-sessions

[FrankR]

The way I see it, SCOTUS has basically said that the "mandate" (i.e. fines, penalties) are considered a tax. But the obamacare bill was not written as a "tax bill", and obama and his flying monkeys have all previously denied that it was a tax...on National TV.

Therefore, if it IS a tax as SCOTUS proclaims, why doesn't the entire bill have to be rewritten as a tax bill. If people cannot be taxed without the Congress passing a tax, then Congress has not passed a tax, per se, in this bill.

It should be therefore incumbent to run this thing back through Congress to turn it into a "tax bill". To me, SCOTUS implying that it is a "tax" is the only way they gave it a thumbs up, and that says that the commerce clause stands and "mandates, fines, and penalties" for not playing are not Constitutional.

But, insofar as obamacare, as a "tax bill", is just vaporware, there is no law to enforce until duly amended into a tax bill by the Congress.

IMHO

[marygonzo]

Thia bill was initiated in the Senate. Passed on a the eve of the celebration of the birth of our Savior which offended me greatly. What Roberts forgot is that the House didn’t pass the bill from the Senate until March of 2010!! Therefore, the constitutional absolute requirement that all revenue bills be initiated in the house was raped!!. This should embarrass him greatly as it is such a huge violation of the constitution. This came up in deliberations on the floor and the Democrats lied and said oh no!! No Tax here— this is a penalty!!!

[old republic]

Isn’t that illegal. I mean, if the law says that you cannot have standing to challenge a tax before it is collected, and the Supreme Court took the case anyway and decided that the mandate was a tax. Since the law requires a tax to be collected before it can be challenged, once the court determined that the mandate was a tax, it should have refused to determine the constitutionality of the tax until later, right? Did the court break the law by determining the constitutionality of the tax before it was collected?

[iontheball]

People who have lived and been on the receiving end of the vicissitudes of human behavior know that Roberts has been bought out or intimidated by Obama, just like so many other judges and politicians who have refused to take a stand against Obama. There is a story here that will be told someday and it will be entitled Obama’s Cowards and Traitors. When one is left scratching his head in wonderment over the contorted, concocted reasoning giving rise to the decision, you know that someone dictated the objective to the judge and then he had to manufacture a phoney ‘rationale’ to reach that objective.

[marygonzo]

All tax bills must be initiated in the House. This tax bill is void because it was initiated in the Senate. They argued it was not a tax to get around the Constitutional requirement. Roberts is a buffoon.

[Lurking Libertarian]

I mean, if the law says that you cannot have standing to challenge a tax before it is collected, and the Supreme Court took the case anyway and decided that the mandate was a tax. Since the law requires a tax to be collected before it can be challenged, once the court determined that the mandate was a tax, it should have refused to determine the constitutionality of the tax until later, right? Did the court break the law by determining the constitutionality of the tax before it was collected?

What the Court actually held, in a remarkable bit of pretzel logic, was that the word "tax" as used in the Anti-Injunction Act has a narrower meaning than the phrase "Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises" in Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the Constitution, and that the mandate was not a "tax" covered by the Anti-Injunction Act, so ir could be challenged before it was collected, but that it was some sort of "tax" or "excise" authorized by the Constitution, and therefore constitutional.

[Paladin2]

Robert’s re-swore Zer0 in private on the first day.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Yes Bush got played when he tapped Roberts for the bench.

[formosa]

SCOTUS did not torture the constitution. They may as well have lit a match to it because they just put the final nail in its coffin. The feds now have unlimited power over everyone. Some are slaves and some are masters but we will all suffer equally in the long run.

This needs to laid out in a fashion that all will understand in the upcoming election. Americans have lost the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong any longer. It’s time to take an honest assessment of the facts and not run from them. The public needs to hear and understand the consequences of these actions. The results will not be pretty. I would much rather terrify the public with the truth than watch my children buried in the horrors of contradictions and blinded to what’s real.

[fortheDeclaration]

If States cannot be punished for not complying with Obamacare, hasn't the State mandate been abolished?

The GOP governors are already saying they will not comply.

[Pollster1]

Thia bill was initiated in the Senate. Passed on a the eve of the celebration of the birth of our Savior which offended me greatly. What Roberts forgot is that the House didn’t pass the bill from the Senate until March of 2010!! Therefore, the constitutional absolute requirement that all revenue bills be initiated in the house was raped!!. This should embarrass him greatly as it is such a huge violation of the constitution. This came up in deliberations on the floor and the Democrats lied and said oh no!! No Tax here— this is a penalty!!!

Roberts had no opportunity to rule on that aspect of this terrible bill. We need a new lawsuit challenging ObamaCare on that basis, as a violation of the Constitution because it is a tax bill that originated in the Senate. We need a lot of other lawsuits, challenging ObamaCare on every other potential flaw. We need to fight this evil bill the way liberals fight everything good - by challenging it in every jurisdiction, on every possible basis, using every possible mechanism. We need lawsuits in the courts, legislation at the state and federal level, executive orders, corporate non-compliance, individual non-compliance, administrative mischief, physician efforts, and every other option imaginable. We must go with a full-court press to kill this - or America will die (along with our expensive parents, grand-parents, and "imperfect" children who are not wanted by the death panels).

[peeps36]

Are all the waivers O’blowhard granted to his political cronies voided now that it's a tax? I hope this gigantic tax destroys the filth called the democrat party.