[Defend Liberty]

Judge Vinson's action to make a ruling is Unconstitutional. Article III Section II states SCOTUS is to have original jurisdiction for cases involving Ambassadors, other public Ministers, Consuls and those in which a state shall be a party. All other cases SCOTUS has only appellate jurisdiction. In other words this case should have gone immediately to SCOTUS. SCOTUS is the only court to have Constitutional authority for this case. A ruling on the appellate level is Unconstitutional.

More importantly states need not seek approval from one branch of the federal government regarding the other two branches of the federal government when it comes to an issue of enumerated powers in Article I Section VIII of the Constitution. Regulating health care is not an enumerated power in Article I Section VIII and therefore is clearly a power reserved to the states or the people per the 10th Amendment. These states have in effect relinquished their 10th Amendment rights to the Judicial branch under the pretense the judicial branch is the final authority on the Constitution.

If this were true then SCOTUS could change the Constitution at their whim, without being challenged. The states need simply reassert their 10th Amendment rights. They need not seek approval of or get permission from any branch of the federal government.

[21stCenturion]

Several questions come to mind ...

Why hasn’t SCOTUS already asserted Article III, Section II ‘original jurisdiction’ long before now, in the face of 2/3 of the States aggressively filing suit against Obamacare ?

Is this because SCOTUS views this conflict as more of a ‘political’ issue between factions within the Congress and the White House, rather than a fundamental ‘original intent’ issue ?

Contrarily, SCOTUS has a well-established tendency to NOT assert jurisdiction prematurely over a case winding it’s way up from a lower court, preferring to allow for an accumulation of thoughts and preliminary rulings as the issue ‘matures’. What say you ?

WRT Article I, Section VIII enumerated powers and the 10th Amendment reservation of powers to the States: what forum do you propose is appropriate for ‘the States’ to make an assertion pre-empting an Act of Congress ? Twitter ? The LSM ? CNN ?

It would appear that a successful ‘Federal case’, well developed and argued until finally upheld by the SCOTUS, is required to make such an assertion usefully binding on the Congress or some regulatory agency such as the EPA. What say you ?

One man’s opinion.

21stCenturion

[Boogieman]

Original jurisdiction doesn’t mean the SCOTUS has to hear the case first, it just means they have the ability to hear the case before it works its way through the rest of the courts. There’s nothing in the Constitution that says they have to exercise that ability.

[kevkrom]

Original jurisdiction is not exclusive jurisdiction. The subordinate courts, when created, were also allowed to share in original jurisdiction, with the superior courts having appellate jurisdiction over them.