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 If the PPACA gets pruned or repealed in 2013, this may not be such a big win as its supporters think.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.
3 thoughts on “Win Some, Lose Some”
Wow. That last sentence is incredibly cynical. And sad.
John
I’d love to be proven wrong.
As it stands now, the investigation into Fast & Furious is effectively closed. What are they going to do, subpoena Holder again? He won’t feel compelled to show up, and Machen isn’t going to prosecute his boss. There’s no means to force any sort of cooperation from Justice from here out.
Newell, Voth, and Breuer still have their jobs. Burke and Melson got off with a slap on the wrist. Nobody’s been indicted or prosecuted. There are no consequences for their actions.
Furthermore, it looks like the spectre of a contempt charge has lost its menace.
I could use cause for optimism, but I don’t see much.
It pisses me off when politicians and political appointees get away with crimes.
When President Clinton got caught having extramarital sex, the institution of impeachment was destroyed through frivolous misuse.
If this incident has similarly delegitimized contempt charges, that’s very bad.