MMC
03-31-2012, 02:01 AM
Supporters of President Obama's health-care reform law were confident the court would rule it constitutional. It appears the predictions were off the mark.
A week ago, supporters of the Affordable Care Act and legal scholars seemed certain that the Supreme Court would find the law constitutional, by a 6-3 or even a 7-2 vote. But after three days of contentious hearings this week, such forecasts seem presumptuous: The five members of the court's conservative majority all apparently doubt whether Congress has the authority to force (nearly) every American to buy health insurance (the "individual mandate"), an essential provision of President Obama's health-care overhaul. How did so many people get their predictions so wrong (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/divining-the-supreme-court-health-care-arguments/)?
1. Obama's lawyer unexpectedly blew it
Solicitor General Donald Verrilli's defense of ObamaCare "may go down as one of the most spectacular flameouts in the history of the court," says Adam Serwer at Mother Jones (http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/obamacare-supreme-court-disaster). He was fighting for "liberalism's biggest domestic accomplishment since the 1960s," but came across like a stammering teenager, stumbling over the "most predictable of questions." Verrilli parroted tired talking points instead of clearly explaining how enforcing the individual mandate wouldn't give the government unlimited powers. "If the law is upheld, it will be in spite of Verrilli's performance, not because of it.".....snip~
http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-sours-obamacare-did-legal-experts-wrong-103100400.html
A week ago, supporters of the Affordable Care Act and legal scholars seemed certain that the Supreme Court would find the law constitutional, by a 6-3 or even a 7-2 vote. But after three days of contentious hearings this week, such forecasts seem presumptuous: The five members of the court's conservative majority all apparently doubt whether Congress has the authority to force (nearly) every American to buy health insurance (the "individual mandate"), an essential provision of President Obama's health-care overhaul. How did so many people get their predictions so wrong (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/divining-the-supreme-court-health-care-arguments/)?
1. Obama's lawyer unexpectedly blew it
Solicitor General Donald Verrilli's defense of ObamaCare "may go down as one of the most spectacular flameouts in the history of the court," says Adam Serwer at Mother Jones (http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/obamacare-supreme-court-disaster). He was fighting for "liberalism's biggest domestic accomplishment since the 1960s," but came across like a stammering teenager, stumbling over the "most predictable of questions." Verrilli parroted tired talking points instead of clearly explaining how enforcing the individual mandate wouldn't give the government unlimited powers. "If the law is upheld, it will be in spite of Verrilli's performance, not because of it.".....snip~
http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-sours-obamacare-did-legal-experts-wrong-103100400.html