Win Some, Lose Some

The Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) today. Let’s do act like adults and call it by its proper name, rather than “Obamacare.”

Do I agree with Roberts’ decision? No, but here we are. Reaching back to 1895, he finds that

The elementary rule is that every reasonable construction must be resorted to in order to save a statute from unconstitutionality.

So, he went looking for a reason to uphold the individual mandate. In the end, he found it justified by virtue of being a tax, rather than doing so through a tortured reading of the Commerce Clause. We would have been far worse off if he’d found his authority there.

If the Republicans mean that stuff they’re pounding their chests about (and if their supporters can be troubled to show up at the polls this November), it’s a bump in the road in any case. Part of me wonders if punting this back to Congress wasn’t Roberts’ intent in the first place. If the PPACA gets pruned or repealed in 2013, this may not be such a big win as its supporters think.

The whole hubbub drowned out Eric Holder’s contempt hearing. The House found him in criminal contempt by a vote of 255-67, and of civil contempt by a margin of 258-95. That didn’t include Nancy Pelosi or the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who did their best James Brown cape-over-the-shoulder routine and staged a walkout.

Feels good, doesn’t it? I suppose. But what does it really do? We’re in murky waters, since this is somewhat unprecedented. The US Attorney could prosecute Holder, but he’s got discretion, and with the administration already having circled the wagons, I don’t see that happening. We have no idea how long it would take to pursue the case in civil court. We still don’t have the documents, and there’s no way to compel their delivery in the near future.

So, all in all, we’ve been treated to a grotesque bit of political theater and little more. The contempt action fails to hold anyone accountable, and it fails to bring justice to the family of Brian Terry or the innumerable Mexican victims of Fast & Furious. The PPACA stands for now, but may be trounced in the near future.

At the very least, I hope people were entertained.

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