TEXAS – A judge in the Lone Star State issued an opinion Friday saying that ObamaCare, in its current form, is unconstitutional. Gee, tell us something we don’t know. Though certainly a positive bit of news for conservative who have long held that the law, socializing health insurance markets, was no where near the core functions of government, the ruling came because of recent changes in the law.
“Texas, along with 19 states, had argued to U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor that they had been hurt by a jump in the amount of people utilizing state-backed insurance. When Congress cut the tax penalty from the program in 2017, the states claimed, it essentially undercut the Supreme Court’s reasoning for finding former President Barack Obama’s signature legislation constitutional in 2012.
“The remainder of the ACA is non-severable from the individual mandate, meaning that the Act must be invalidated in whole,” O’Connor wrote in a 55-page opinion, according to Bloomberg. O’Connor is a conservative Republican appointee who previously blocked other Obama-era policies.”
It’s kind of sad that it takes such a glaring disconnect in the keystone of the law to recognize how unconstitutional the entire premise is, but it does make the Trump’s and Congressional Republicans’ move to repeal the individual mandate last year a great one.
President Trump was understandably happy with the decision, and Democrats predictably outraged and hyperbolic. What is sad, though, is the luke warm reception some Republicans on Capitol Hill seem to have had to a judicial opinion that supposedly supports their agenda to repeal the law.
‘Supposedly’, because so many of those Republicans that raged against Obamacare when it was popular to do so, are squeamish about the prospect now that the entitlement mentality has sunk its claws into a large portion of the voting base. That was the plan all along, of course, as it is with any entitlement program. The longer it is allowed to grow roots, the harder it is to remove.
The principles remain the same, however, meaning that no parts of the comically named ‘Affordable Care Act’ are constitutional. Even the mandates for insurers to cover pre-existing conditions that seems to be so popular on both sides of the political aisle in Washington, D.C. The president himself is calling for any new law to include the latter, which effectively sinks any principled argument against socialized healthcare.
The ruling will get appealed the the Court of Appeals, and then likely to the Supreme Court. Once there we will have the chance to see how effective the newly appointed Supreme Court Justices really are. Chief Justice John Roberts has already proven to be a complete disappointment on this issue, upholding the law as constitutional during the Obama years. Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first appointment, has proven so far to be quite conservative in his opinions. Worrisome, though, is Justice Brett Kavanaugh, now infamous for the hyperbolic smear campaign over his confirmation, and the fact that he has already disappointed conservatives in ruling in favor of Planned Parenthood.
All of this insures that healthcare will be a big focus as we wind our way toward the 2020 elections, with the Left pushing for ‘Medicare for all’ and the Right adrift in their opposition, with no real mooring to principles.
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