SCOTUS Releases Divided Decisions | Obama declares 'The Affordable Care Act Here To Stay'
The House reconvened at 9 AM today.
Bills which may be considered:
H.R. 1735 - "To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendment thereto."
H.R. 1295 - "To extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Generalized System of Preferences, the preferential duty treatment program for Haiti, and for other purposes."
H.R. 2822 — "Making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes."
Yesterday the House passed H.R. 2042 — "To allow for judicial review of any final rule addressing carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired electric utility generating units before requiring compliance with such rule, and to allow States to protect households and businesses from significant adverse effects on electricity ratepayers or reliability."
At 10:51 AM today the House passed H.R. 1615 (423-0) — "To direct the Chief FOIA Officer of the Department of Homeland Security to make certain improvements in the implementation of section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the Freedom of Information Act), and for other purposes."
At 12:47 PM today the House passed H.R. 2200 (420-2) (247-180) - To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear intelligence and information sharing functions of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland Security and to require dissemination of information analyzed by the Department to entities with responsibilities relating to homeland security, and for other purposes."
The Senate reconvened at 9:50 AM today and began a period of morning business. No votes are scheduled for today.
Yesterday, the Senate voted to pass all the remaining trade legislation. Senators voted 60-38 to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 2146, which sent Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to the president’s desk for his signature.
The Senate then voted 76-22 to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment to H.R. 1295, the bill containing the reauthorization of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program and trade preferences for countries in Africa. Senators then agreed to the motion to concur by voice vote, sending that bill back to the House for approval.
Following those votes, the Senate agreed by voice vote to go to conference with the House on H.R. 644, the customs enforcement bill.
The Supreme Court this morning released a divided decisions.
In Texas Department Of Housing And Community Affairs et al. V. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., et al, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the 1968 Fair Housing Act doesn't solely ban overt discrimination in the housing market. The court said the law can also prohibit seemingly race-neutral policies that have the effect of disproportionately harming minorities and other protected groups, even if there is no overt evidence of bias behind them. A Washington Post article details this decision.
In King v. Burwell, which addressed the ability of the government to grant subsidies to customers of the federal Obamacare exchange, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the subsidies should be available in states where consumers rely on the federal government exchange. The President Obama declared in a Rose Garden speech: “The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”
Roberts was joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Opposing the decision were Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.
The Washington Post noted, "Scalia said Roberts, who also wrote the decision in 2012 that saved the Affordable Care Act from that challenge, has performed 'somersaults of statutory interpretation” to preserve the act: “We should start calling this law SCOTUScare.' The comment drew laughter as Scalia underlined his disagreement with the decision by reading part of his dissent from the bench.
The two cases, Scalia said, 'will publish forever the discouraging truth that the Supreme Court of the United States favors some laws over others, and is prepared to do whatever it takes to uphold and assist its favorites.'"
This morning on the Senate Floor, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the Supreme Court ruling on King v. Burwell:
“Today’s ruling won’t change Obamacare’s multitude of broken promises, including the one that resulted in millions of Americans losing the coverage they had and wanted to keep. Today’s ruling won’t change Obamacare’s spectacular flops, from humiliating website debacles to the total collapse of exchanges in states run by the law’s loudest cheerleaders. Today’s ruling won’t change the skyrocketing costs in premiums, deductibles, and co-pays that have hit the middle class so hard over the last few years.
“The politicians who forced Obamacare on the American people now have a choice: crow about Obamacare’s latest wobble towards the edge, or work with us to address the ongoing negative impact of a 2,000-page law that continues to make life miserable for too many of the same people it purported to help.”
Former Arkansas governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made the following statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on King v. Burwell.
"Everywhere I go, I talk to American families who keep getting punched in the gut with outrageous insurance premiums and infuriating hospital bills. ObamaCare was railroaded through Congress to 'solve' our healthcare problems, but five years later, American families are getting railroaded by runaway mandates, big government bureaucracy, and out-of-control healthcare costs. ObamaCare is a $2.2 trillion Washington disaster that raided billions from Medicare and did nothing to fix our broken system of 'sick care,' which rewards irresponsibility and penalizes commonsense. As President, I will protect Medicare, repeal ObamaCare, and pass real reform that will actually lower costs, while focusing on cures and prevention rather than intervention. The status quo is unfair, unaffordable, unsustainable, and completely un-American."
American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp sums up the majority feeling of conservatives regarding the judicial activism evidenced by the Supreme Court:
“What’s clear is that Professor Jonathan Gruber, President Barack Obama, Leader Harry Reid and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi thought they could force Republican governors to create their own state-based insurance exchanges. But because those 36 governors found Obamacare’s mandates so repellent, they spared their constituents and chose the unsubsidized Federal insurance exchanges instead.
“Chief Justice John Roberts now thinks it is his job to re-write the unambiguous language of the law to achieve a certain outcome: the radical Leftist dream of socialized medicine.
“Justice Roberts and the other concurring five justices have disgraced their office, sprayed graffiti on the Constitution, and set America on a path toward a constitutional crisis. In fact, two of these Justices blatantly deceived Congress during their confirmation hearings, and lied to the Presidents who appointed them. Justices Roberts and Anthony Kennedy promised President George W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan that they would follow the letter of the law.
“Under oath, Justice Roberts swore that he would not engage in judicial activism. He has betrayed his own integrity, the integrity of the court and the American people.
“Justices Roberts and Kennedy promised to only look at the statutory language drafted by Congress and the Constitutionality of that language. Instead they acted like corrupt county politicians, trying to achieve a political outcome as if they were cutting backroom deals in a smoke-filled room. The Republican-led Senate should haul these robed manipulators back to explain why they lied during their confirmation hearings. CEO’s of private corporations are not allowed to commit perjury before Congress. Why should the head of the Judiciary be held to a lower standard?
“Those of us who labored to get John Roberts confirmed are owed an apology. What is more tragic is we owe our fellow Americans an apology for believing him in the first place.
“There are three honest justices on the nation's highest court: Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Antonin Scalia. The world should know that Roberts and Kennedy have not behaved as justices but instead as political hacks without term limits. They have brought shame to their office and defied the Presidents who placed their trust in them.”
Tags: SCOTUS, Supreme Court, decisions, Obamacare, judicial activism To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 12:57 PM - Post Link
1 Comments:
I've told folks for decades that the SCOTUS has become a mini-dictatorship in black robes. They don't care what laws we pass--or what those laws say--they will tell us what we as citizens r going to do.
Post a Comment
<< Home