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Preposterous!
Well, not for the first time!
The Supremes are outdoing themselves as comedians no one laughs at when it comes to the latest challenge to Obamacare. Wait a minute, “challenge” makes this decision to accept the case almost respectable. Don’t kid yourself. Armed with results of the midterms, they clearly believe anything goes.
King v. Burwell is not so much a radical legal doctrine as it is a Monty Python-esque exercise in extreme tendentiousness. Obamacare was designed to give states the option to set up their own health exchange, but if they declined, the federal government would step in and set one up for them. The plaintiffs latch onto a single line in the law, describing the tax credits that are available for the exchanges. That line describes the exchange as “established by the State.” Therefore, the plaintiffs argue, the tax credits are only available to exchanges set up by states, and not for the exchanges set up by the federal government. …JonathanChait,Daily Intel
What are the odds? Could they make trouble?
On the legal merits, the suit is utterly preposterous. The plaintiffs argue that the drafters of the law actually intended for the federal exchanges to deny tax credits to their customers. Of course, such exchanges would be utterly disastrous, and the insurance unaffordable. The drafters of the law all explain that they did not intend such a preposterous result. …JonathanChait,Daily Intel
But still, couldn’t they make some serious trouble. This isn’t, after all, a Court that can be depended on for wisdom.
On the one hand, if Roberts decided not to blow up Obamacare two years ago, why would he change his mind now? On the other hand, this lawsuit gives him another chance to blow a major hole in the law without destroying it completely. In that way, it may fit with his apparent goal of advancing the conservative movement’s legal goals without instigating a massive public backlash. …JonathanChait,Daily Intel
In other words, not a swift and sure guillotine. Instead, the creepy specter of rightwing cannibalism over time.
Cross-posted from Prairie Weather
graphic via shutterstock.com