All eyes will be on the Supreme Court in Washington this week where 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business will be arguing that Congress and President Obama exceeded their constitutional authority when they included in Obamacare a mandate that all individuals must buy health insurance.
The Court has scheduled six hours of oral argument spread over three days for the case, which will encompass many issues beyond just the mandate. You can track the Court’s schedule, here. The debate over the individual mandate is scheduled for Tuesday and will last two hours.
If you want to know how the Court will decide the case come this summer, pay special attention to how the Obama Justice Department tries to explain what the limits of Congressional power are. This issue has been Obama’s Achilles heel throughout the process of getting to the Supreme Court. Obamacare’s defenders simply have not been able to answer the question: “If Congress can force people to buy health insurance, then what can’t they force people to do?”
Their best answer so far has been a weak one that revolves around the “uniqueness” of health care.
“The government is not standing before the court and saying, ‘We have the power to make individuals buy some good they wouldn’t otherwise consume,’” Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal argued in a lower court. “The government’s point is everyone consumes health care. It’s a fact of our mortality.”
But everyone consumes food, housing, and transportation too. Do you know anyone who has never eaten, or lives without shelter? By Katyal’s logic, Congress could force everyone to eat a certain amount of broccoli or take out a mortgage. There simply is no limiting principle to the government’s case.
Unless the Obama administration comes up with a better answer to this question on Tuesday, they will lose big time this June.
Campaign 2012
Veepstakes: On Fox News Sunday, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he would “consider” running for vice president on the Republican ticket this fall, after indicating that he expects Mitt Romney to win the Republican nomination.
Around the Bigs
Bloomberg, Corzine Ordered Funds Moved to JP Morgan: While CEO of the now bankrupt MF Global, former-New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine gave “direct instructions” to transfer $200 million from a customer fund account to meet an overdraft in a brokerage account with JPMorgan, according to a memo written by congressional investigators.
Pew, What the Public Knows: Republicans outperformed Democrats on Pew Research Center’s latest News IQ test. On 13 out of the 19 questions, Republicans scored significantly higher than Democrats and there were no questions on which Democrats did better than Republicans.
The New York Times, A Bailout by Another Name: Gretchen Morgenson explains why a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac write down of mortgage principal would be another huge bailout for Wall Street.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Suspicious school test scores across the nation: An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of test results for 69,000 public schools across the country found high concentrations of suspect math or reading scores in school systems from coast to coast. The analysis doesn’t prove cheating. But it reveals that test scores in hundreds of cities followed a pattern that, in Atlanta, indicated cheating in multiple schools.
Righty Playbook
Reason’s Anthony Randazzo explains why the housing market is not recovering yet.
The Heritage Foundation posts a chart documenting all $502 billion of Obamacare’s tax hikes.
AEI‘s Kenneth Green notes that Obama’s war on oil refineries is also driving up the cost of gas.
Lefty Playbook
Salon‘s Joan Walsh explains why Obama spoke out about Trayvon Martin’s death.
The Huffington Post‘s Sam Stein reports that the White House has not developed any plans for a legislative replacement for Obamacare’s individual mandate should that provision be struck down by the Supreme Court.
Daily Kos’ by Dante Atkins interviews Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate about his game plan for recalling Gov. Scott Walker.
