Thoughts on SCOTUS and the Healthcare Bill

Washington Post article: Supreme Court upholds Obama’s health-care law


Thursday's ruling on the Healthcare bill was strange.

The court is predominately conservative right now, with the majority being Republican appointees.  Recent rulings have tended to support Republican positions with a bit of a "strict Constitutionalist" theme.

Justice Kennedy tends to vote according to his perception of personal liberty.  Justice Thomas usually votes according to a strict interpretation of the letter of the law.  The other 5 conservatives seem to fall somewhere in between, and seem to be more influenced by politics than these two.  The four liberal jurists seem to trend the same, but from a Democrat/liberal perspective.

Justice Roberts deviated greatly from the court's typical trends with his decision.  He basically rewrote the bill's debate and language in order to shoe-horn it into a very tenuous interpretation of Constitutionality.  He is being applauded by the more liberal politicians, lawyers, and judges, but the more intellectually honest folks are left scratching their heads.  The majority opinion seems to have been written, not to discover the answer, but to support the preconception; to push an agenda.

The problem is, we're left with no idea what that agenda is.  Roberts made a real effort to avoid expanding the commerce authority of Congress.  He criticized the legislation in general.  He seemed to criticized the general public for electing people who would frame this kind of legislation.  It almost seems like he upheld the bill against his better judgement.

I can't help but wonder if Roberts has been subjected to some kind of extreme political pressure, bribed, or blackmailed.  He hasn't been in office long enough to judge him decisively, but the ruling seems to be out of character.  Justice Kennedy is reported to have appeared outwardly angry with Roberts during the reading of the decision.

I also can't figure out who benefits from this decision.  Obama has certainly won a political victory.   The fallout from this victory, however, may benefit Republicans in the fall's elections.  The TEA party movement gained popularity as a direct result of the healthcare bill.  The SCOTUS decision has already begun to rally TEA party supporters and to fill Republican and conservative candidate coffers.

On the other hand, Obama and Democrat senators can point to this piece of signature legislation as a significant victory.  They can claim to have kept promises and to have benefited a large segment of society (a controversial claim, but one that many voters will respond to).

I guess we'll just have to watch it all unfold.