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The Constitutional Question(s)

So I agree with both James Ceaser and Peter Lawler.  Dr. Ceaser is right that the question of whether the mandate is constitutional has not at all been settled by the Supreme Court.  You have four Justices who think that the Obamacare scheme of mandate and penalty is . . . . Continue Reading »

Pessimistic Thoughts

1.  When looking at the Obamacare case, many wondered if the individual insurance purchase mandate was severable from the rest of Obamacare.  According to the Chief Justice, the mandate is severable from itself.  You take (what he admits to be) an unconstitutional scheme of mandate . . . . Continue Reading »

Freedom of Speech Includes Some Kinds of Lies

In a decision that will upset some military men I know, the Supreme Court finds that it is constitutional to lie about yourself. The case centered on Xavier Alvarez, a water-district board member in California, who was convicted of falsely claiming to be a Medal of Honor recipient. A federal . . . . Continue Reading »

On John Roberts

This is an expansion of something I wrote in a thread: If Roberts really thinks that the federal insurance purchase mandate is constitutional, then he he ought to sleep well. If Roberts ruled in favor of the mandate as some kind of act of judicial statesmanship (well . . . maybe it will get . . . . Continue Reading »

The Real Majority Opinion On Obamacare…

isn’t necessarily the Chief Justice John Roberts-written opinion - or rather it is necessarily going to be the Roberts-written opinion for very long.  In his majority opinion, Roberts wrote that the interstate commerce clause does not give Congress the power to mandate that individuals . . . . Continue Reading »

No Spin

This is a great day for President Obama.  The argument against Obamacare from constitutional norms has been fatally wounded to the extent of winning over persuadables.  To the extent that pesuadables (especially fairly low information persuadables), feel in-their-bones that the government . . . . Continue Reading »

Waiting On A Greek Disaster

Since the beginning of the fiscal crisis in 2009, Greek politics has alternated periods of collapse with periods of decay.  We are in one of the latter periods now.  The bad news comes so often that it gets boring.  Here is the latest batch: 1.  Greece wants to renegotiate its . . . . Continue Reading »

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