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Will Justice Kennedy Swing Toward Fundamental Change?
IBD Editorial ^ | March 30, 2012 | MARK STEYN

Posted on 03/30/2012 4:13:29 PM PDT by Kaslin

Since the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor, Swingin' Anthony Kennedy has been the swingingest swinger on the Supreme Court, the big Numero Cinco on all those 5-4 white-knuckle nail-biting final scores. So naturally court observers have been paying close attention to his interventions in the ObamaCare oral arguments. So far he doesn't sound terribly persuaded by the administration's line:

"The government is saying that the federal government has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act, and that is different from what we have in previous cases, and that changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in a very fundamental way."

As John Hinderaker wrote at the Powerline blog, "In that last observation, Kennedy seems to be channeling Mark Steyn."

Which is true. As I wrote in National Review only two or three issues back, "I've argued for years in these pages that governmentalized health care fundamentally transforms the relationship between citizen and state in ways that" — and here's the bit Justice Kennedy isn't quite on board with yet — "make it all but impossible to have genuinely conservative government ever again."

So I'm naturally heartened to hear him meeting me half-way. This was one of the highlights of a week that a shell-shocked Jeffrey Toobin, crawling out from under the rubble of the solicitor-general's presentation, told CNN viewers was "a train wreck" for the government's case.

And yet, and yet ... if you incline to the view that ObamaCare is a transformative act, isn't there something slightly pitiful about the fact that the liberties of over 300 million people hinge on the somewhat whimsical leanings of just one man? I mean, Kennedy seems a cheery enough cove, but who died and made him the all-powerful Sultan of Swing?

(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: marksteyn; scotus; scotusocareanalysis

1 posted on 03/30/2012 4:13:33 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
Unfortunately, the Obamacare machinery is already deeply-rooted in place, Insurance companies have ALREADY reacted with rates to protect themselves, and the big Corporations are bailing from Benefit-provisions to get ready for 2013.

I just don't believe that the USSC will in any way force the Federal Government back out of the Socialized Medicine Plan....period.

2 posted on 03/30/2012 4:16:53 PM PDT by traditional1 (Don't gotsta worry 'bout no mo'gage, don't gotsta worry 'bout no gas; Obama gonna take care o' me!)
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To: traditional1

” I just don’t believe that the USSC will in any way force the Federal Government back out of the Socialized Medicine Plan....period”

WRONG....it will bankrupt the USA, and our 5 know it.


3 posted on 03/30/2012 4:21:02 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (God, family, country, mom, apple pie, the girl next door and a Ford F250 to pull my boat.)
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To: traditional1

I just don’t believe that the USSC will in any way force the Federal Government back out of the Socialized Medicine Plan....period.

This could be the tipping point then


4 posted on 03/30/2012 4:22:31 PM PDT by lookout88 (.combat officer's dad)
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To: lookout88

We’re overdue for a “tipping point”!


5 posted on 03/30/2012 4:29:27 PM PDT by albie
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To: stephenjohnbanker

The Supreme Court has always prided itself on being “non-partisan”, but that pretty much flew out the window about ten or fifteen years ago. Now the vote has come down to how one person is feeling that day, and judgments rendered have been pretty mercurical.

MAYBE the judgment of that one Justice will take into consideration the fiscal bind the nation is in, but don’t hold your breath on that being any kind of consideration.

The eventual bind the country will come to if this act is not invalidated in some way will effectively cancel its application anyway. Doesn’t matter if everybody has “equal” access to health care, if there is no effective medical treatment available to be dispensed.

I see a resurgeance of witch doctors and faith healers. And an awful lot of “home remedies” available through back channels.

Doesn’t sound so much “21st Century” to me.


6 posted on 03/30/2012 4:32:58 PM PDT by alloysteel (College "education" may be the worst mischief to be inflicted upon the next generation.)
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To: Kaslin

Does Kennedy believe in an “open mandate?”


7 posted on 03/30/2012 4:42:40 PM PDT by JediJones (The Divided States of Obama's Declaration of Dependence: Death, Taxes and the Pursuit of Crappiness)
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To: alloysteel

Have to hope for the best. Obama “flipped off” the SCOTUS...

that will help too.


8 posted on 03/30/2012 4:42:51 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (God, family, country, mom, apple pie, the girl next door and a Ford F250 to pull my boat.)
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To: stephenjohnbanker
Bankrupting America is the intent of 0bamacare along with Stimulus, antics like Solyndra, MF Global and EVEN INCREASED SPENDING in 0bammy's new budget.. All under the cover of 'helping people' blah blah blah...

'CHANGE' meant CHANGE America's form of government to Socialism (By bankrupting Capitalism FIRST).

0bamacare has already served it's purpose of escalating insurance premiums beyond affordability.. "Single Payer System" here we come!

9 posted on 03/30/2012 4:43:32 PM PDT by FedsRStealingOurCountryFromUs
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To: Kaslin
isn't there something slightly pitiful about the fact that the liberties of over 300 million people hinge on the somewhat whimsical leanings of just one man?

That kind of analysis is just silly. Not only are there 8 other justices who can vote however they want, there was a Congress and a President that had to approve this before it became law. And there were voters who had to elect them. Just because Kennedy might be the LAST person to cast his vote, doesn't mean that any one of the previous deciders, right down to Snarlin' Arlen himself, couldn't also have stopped it when their name was called.

10 posted on 03/30/2012 4:46:13 PM PDT by JediJones (The Divided States of Obama's Declaration of Dependence: Death, Taxes and the Pursuit of Crappiness)
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To: JediJones

Good points, all.


11 posted on 03/30/2012 4:48:25 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (God, family, country, mom, apple pie, the girl next door and a Ford F250 to pull my boat.)
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To: stephenjohnbanker

WRONG....it will bankrupt the USA, and our 5 know it.
_____________________________________________________
Where we differ is that I don’t believe they are OUR 5.


12 posted on 03/30/2012 4:50:23 PM PDT by sanjuanbob (Festina Lente)
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To: FedsRStealingOurCountryFromUs; Kaslin
Can't wait for UK dentalcare in the U.S.
13 posted on 03/30/2012 5:30:08 PM PDT by 4Liberty (88% of Americans are NON-UNION. We value honest, peaceful Free trade-NOT protectionist CARTELS)
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To: Kaslin

Can you believe that one guy now gets to decide whether we are free people or slaves/serfs??


14 posted on 03/30/2012 5:51:03 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: 4Liberty
You should have seen her teeth before treatment.
15 posted on 03/30/2012 5:53:00 PM PDT by JPG (Hold on tight; rough road ahead.)
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To: Kaslin

Call me crazy but the government did such a crappy job, that liberals are making up story lines about how this loss will help OStalin. 5-4, perhaps 6-3 against the bill.


16 posted on 03/30/2012 6:38:07 PM PDT by JohnD9207 (Santorum...the only Conservative in the race.)
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To: Kaslin
Fundamental Change

"Fundamental Change"? This has to be the euphemism of the millenium. Giving the government the power to ration your medicine, in blatant violation of the founding documents of the country, and calling it "fundamental change" is like saying Charles Manson was "a troubled youth."

Is there really enough KoolAid in the world to make everyone this crazy?

Obama ran on "Change." Every lame imbecil who voted for him lives for "fundamental change".

17 posted on 03/30/2012 6:40:28 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand
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To: Kaslin
... if you incline to the view that ObamaCare is a transformative act, isn't there something slightly pitiful about the fact that the liberties of over 300 million people hinge on the somewhat whimsical leanings of just one man? I mean, Kennedy seems a cheery enough cove, but who died and made him the all-powerful Sultan of Swing?

I agree with Rush's statement / question: How did we get to this point? Congress is a joke, the Federal bureaucracy is totally out of control, and our president is a menace to the nation and other free countries around the world. And now we wait on tenterhooks to see how SCOTUS rules?

18 posted on 04/01/2012 1:42:00 PM PDT by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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To: Kaslin
"If the policy of the government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court," wrote Abraham Lincoln, "the people will have ceased to be their own rulers."

Which they have. Or it would not have come to this.

Indeed!

19 posted on 04/01/2012 1:49:56 PM PDT by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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