Overruling? How do you "overrule" those who have no authority to "rule"?
Department of Health attorneys? I don't see any mention of "attorneys" in the article. I suspect there weren't any attorneys involved in the DoH statement, which is why they advocated violating the law.
Massachusetts Catholic Conference attorneys? Again, you're making up attorneys out of thin air. I don't see any in the article.
The DoH and Catholic Conference gave their opinions, and Governor Romney, with a law degree of his own, chose to follow the counsel of his attorney, a real one.
That seems prudent to me.
You're ignoring the facts and the timing.
Romney supported exempting the Catholic hospitals until he was criticized for it by his Lt Gov and the Boston Globe.
Only after the criticism did Romney come up with a legal opinion reversing his earlier promise.
Despite defending the Health Department regulations as late as Wednesday, Romney opened a news conference yesterday by declaring that a fresh analysis by his legal counsel concluded the new law supersedes the old law, and that all hospitals must be required to offer the so-called morning-after pill.
TChris: “How do you ‘overrule’ those who have no authority to ‘rule’?”
Did Romney’s attorney have the authority to rule?
TChris: “Department of Health attorneys? I don’t see any mention of ‘attorneys’ in the article.”
Let’s see if I understand you correctly.
1. On an obviously highly controversial issue, you think a cabinet department in the ROMNEY administration did not consult with its own staff attorneys before issuing a finding that the new law did not apply to certain hospitals because of a pre-existing law protecting the right of conscience?
2. You’re suggesting that the Mass Catholic Conference also has no “real” attorneys, but just makes up its public policy positions on legal matters out of thin air.
Obviously, there are few lengths to which Rombots won’t go to cover for the Great Prevaricator, but if you actually believe that a state agency or the MCC either don’t have or wouldn’t consult their respective “real” attorneys before publicly commenting, it’s your intelligence that’s called into question.