Posted on 03/29/2012 1:50:01 PM PDT by Sybeck1
A handful of Senate Democrats sought to assure doubtful liberals that the Supreme Court justices aren’t ready to strike down their crowning achievement, standing before cameras and mics Wednesday in front of the court. One warned that doing so would ruin the court’s credibility.
“This court would not only have to stretch, it would have to abandon and completely overrule a lot of modern precedent, which would do grave damage to this court, in its credibility and power,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), a former attorney general of Connecticut. “The court commands no armies, it has no money; it depends for its power on its credibility. The only reason people obey it is because it has that credibility. And the court risks grave damage if it strikes down a statute of this magnitude and importance, and stretches so dramatically and drastically to do it.”
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said the law has been thoroughly vetted.
“As a senior member of the Finance Committee,” he said, “I can tell you that we had one of the most rigorous and transparent legislative processes that I have witnessed in almost 3 decades here in the Congress. We worked with some of the brightest, most thoughtful and experienced constitutional lawyers in order to make sure that the law was constitutional.”
Kerry said the assumptions that tough questions from the justices will amount to striking down some or all of the Affordable Care Act are a fallacy — he predicted, as the final oral arguments were transpiring inside, that it would be upheld.
“Now I am glad — as I think any of us who’ve practiced law are — to see the intense questions from the justices. They’re engaged, and they are thoughtfully working through these issues,” Kerry said. “But questions are a legitimate way of probing the basis of their own thinking. They are not an indication of a judgment made, or a vote ready to be cast. They’re working through this process as they ought to, mindful of the fact that 30 courts below them have already made a judgment upholding it.”
Blumenthal and Kerry — who were joined by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) — called the press conference one day after liberals and other court watchers expressed serious doubts that the justices would uphold the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to purchase insurance, a central pillar of the law. The firestorm was ignited by legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who called Tuesday’s arguments a “train wreck” for the White House and predicted that “Obamacare” would be struck down.
Pushing back, Blumenthal said that there’s a “heavy burden” on the challengers.
“Everybody learns in the first year of law school that the law that’s challenged is presumed to be constitutional,” Blumenthal said. “That is a heavy burden for anyone challenging the constitutionality of a law to overcome. When in doubt, uphold the law. There is a lot of room for doubt here, and there is a lot of clear precedent that requires this court to uphold this law.”
The Democrats’ level of confidence has diminished since the days when they dismissed a constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act as frivolous. Indeed, the tough questioning from swing Justices John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy about the limits of federal power at least rattled liberals enough to require the nerve-soothing press conference. But Democrats are seeking to quell liberal fears that the game is already over.
Experts say it’s too difficult to predict how the court will rule.
Affordable Care Act, HCR/SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Blumenthal is saying two things. (1) ObamaCare is "too big to fail". (2) Democrats will reignight Obama's war against the conservatives on the Supreme Court, started by Obama in his 2010 State of the Union Address, if ObamaCare is overturned. But this one will be much more than a President openly attacking the court to their face. Expect "Occupy SCOTUS" to occur.
Kerry: "I can tell you that we had one of the most rigorous and transparent legislative processes that I have witnessed in almost 3 decades here in the Congress."
Kerry is either borrowing a page from Goebbels or smoking dope. ObamaCare was crafted with lobbyists in Caribou Coffee and in other more secluded locations.
Has this guy seen the polls on the public opinion of the credibility of Congress?
like i said yesterday, this lawsuit, win, lose, or draw means nothing in the larger picture, because the next EOs, ammendments and lawsuits are already written and ready to launch...all the while the mechanisms are being cemented into place...
its been full speed ahead from the getgo, and no signs of slowing down, even when a *loss* in the big court was a real possibility...their posture on not even bothering to delay a little bit, tells us theres no delay to be had...
republican response to bambam-care, dead air and crickets...
You got that right!
like i said yesterday, this lawsuit, win, lose, or draw means nothing in the larger picture, because the next EOs, ammendments and lawsuits are already written and ready to launch...all the while the mechanisms are being cemented into place...
I know what you mean, but if WE surrender, that only helps the left. They are counting on a backlash against the SCOTUS (assuming Kennedy doesn't turn left again). Somebody needs to remind the people of the sleazy process that produced obamacare, and that it was really an all-Dem effort.
We complain when the GOP does nothing, and this is least shows a little spirit. The problem is that they have been so timid/silent for so long, that one single ad is not sufficient.
I dont think that *WE* are going to accomplish anything until the inevitable pushback line is crossed...whenever that comes...
the 'we have to pass it to find out whats in it' thing, and the whole consideration of simply 'deeming' it passed w/o a vote shouldve been enuff to stampede the sheep...but alas, the full on graze mentality is entrenched, and i believe will continue to be so...right up to the point where they start taking houses and cars and such for tax/penalty in the name of obedience...
if they get single payer outta this deal in the SCOTUS, itll effectivelytake even that line off the table, as the cash wont be as blatently stolen at the end of a rifle once the individual mandate is a mute point...
collectivism, here we are...
Right now Obama-care is still so unpopular that I dont think that's an immediate problem. If it gets thrown out Dems will claim that every-single problem with Health care is the conservative court's fault much like we blame Obama-care now.
If Republicans fought like Dems do and wanted to win they would remind the liberal base that it was Obama that took single payer off the table in 2009 and that single payer would not have been thrown out of court, ref medicaid and medicare. Remind them that Obama pushed the unpopular personal manadate to buy insurance from privately owned companies.
The object is to demoralize them like they successfully do to us. That option was even less popular than the one they ended up with.
Gilbo is right, when Romney get’s the nomination that will be a surrender. He will be a disaster. This morning I heard that Newt is having private talks with Romney.
The problem Republicans have is that they dont have any ideas that sound better to than average voters than “Tax the rich to pay for your health coverage”. That is one that money not-rich-people like to hear even if it wont work, it's like taxing oil to lower gas prices which polls popular too. Makes no sense but Santa is popular.
Romney will be a pandering disaster
Republican IDEAS? Are they even ALIVE?
Maybe more than just "political pressure." Could be more like an offer they can't refuse, if you remember "The Godfather."
On the other hand, the anti-Obamacare forces are applying political pressure as well, albeit in a more civilized and logical way. There are 26 elected state AGs involved, and the polls constantly show a majority of the electorate opposing the individual mandate, and/or opposing Obamacare in its entirety. The Court has no choice but to take notice.
Isn't it ironic that Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT) is talking about the Court's credibility? Here's a man who publicly lied, claiming that he served in Vietnam when in fact he did not, a man who is living in a glass house and throwing stones.
Sounds like a THREAT to me.
These Dems threaten and call foul on just about everything . It’s odd that the everything they are yelling about they are the ones doing it. I hope most people realize they will lose their freedom if they allow these thugs to stay.
sounds like a threat to me...
The SCOTUS Justices are there for LIFE. They shouldn’t feel threatened by anyone or anything. I fear we could be in for an upset, but on the other hand even Sotomayor could find 0bamacare Unconstitutional. It’s anybody’s guess.
Obama sent out his thugs with threats.
Mitt loves his romneycare and the GOP E loves mitt. HE SIMPLY CAN’T WIN!!
Our enemies are the GOP E and ‘rats - it’s one party posing as two.
5-4 whole bill tossed. Sotomayor can’t join us. She is only there for Obama.
” Isn’t it ironic that Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT) is talking about the Court’s credibility? Here’s a man who publicly lied, claiming that he served in Vietnam when in fact he did not, a man who is living in a glass house and throwing stones. “
Why do I have to be reminded of this by you, instead of
hearing it from Boehner or McConnell. Are these guys even
alive?
” Isn’t it ironic that Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT) is talking about the Court’s credibility? Here’s a man who publicly lied, claiming that he served in Vietnam when in fact he did not, a man who is living in a glass house and throwing stones. “
Why do I have to be reminded of this by you, instead of
hearing it from Boehner or McConnell. Are these guys even
alive?
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