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SCOTUS Day 3 on the Affordable Care Act – Part 1
March 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Wednesday morning's argument was on the issue of "severability." For some unexplained reason, Congress did not include a common "severability" clause in the Affordable Care Act. Opponents of the Act seized upon this and tried to argue in the lower courts that this means "all or nothing": if any one part of the Act is struck down, the whole Act must fail. The Courts of Appeals divided on this issue.
It would appear from this morning's Q&A from the Justices that they are not buying the "all or nothing" approach. Court's have frequently implied severability into statutes. The Court also demonstrated no stomach for going through the ACA line by line to determine what provisions would remain should they strike down other provisions, reasonably suggesting that this is best left to the legislative function of Congress.
Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com has the severability argument summary. Argument recap: A lift for the mandate?:
The Supreme Court spent 91 minutes Wednesday operating on the assumption that it would strike down the key feature of the new health care law, but may have convinced itself in the end not to do that because of just how hard it would be to decide what to do after that. A common reaction, across the bench, was that the Justices themselves did not want the onerous task of going through the remainder of the entire 2,700 pages of the law and deciding what to keep and what to throw out, and most seemed to think that should be left to Congress. They could not come together, however, on just what task they would send across the street for the lawmakers to perform. The net effect may well have shored up support for the individual insurance mandate itself. (emphasis added)
The dilemma could be captured perfectly in two separate comments by Justice Antonin Scalia — first, that it “just couldn’t be right” that all of the myriad provisions of the law unrelated to the mandate had to fall with it, but, later, that if the Court were to strike out the mandate, “then the statute’s gone.” Much of the lively argument focused on just what role the Court would more properly perform in trying to sort out the consequences of nullifying the requirement that virtually every American have health insurance by the year 2014.
Dr. Word asks Romney: When you reach a crossroads, do you turn around?
March 28, 2012
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by David Safier Dr. Word received one of his regular snail mail pitches from Republicans, this time from Mitt Romney. Being a student of metaphor, he is puzzled by the Mitt's metaphorical mixed message. (Please feel free to criticize the Dr.'s overuse of alliteration. He acknowledges he has a problem.) Romney began with: Our country … Read more
Dissecting Tom Friedman
March 28, 2012
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Posted by Bob Lord
One of the jobs I’d love to have is Tom Friedman’s. His job duties are to (a) learn as much as he can about interesting things, (b) travel the world to achieve that end, and (c) write about the stuff he learns. And he gets to squeeze in a few rounds of golf in the process. Not a bad gig. It would be hard to say he doesn’t deserve his position. His thirst for knowledge is incredible, as are his skills at communicating what he learns.
But I have a problem with his conclusion in today’s column, which can be found here, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/opinion/friedman-elephants-down-under.html?_r=1&ref=opinion, and what I believe is a glaring flaw in his logic.
Don Bivens withdraws from U.S. Senate race
March 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: An announcement from the Don Bivens for U.S. Senate campaign: My family and I entered this U.S. Senate race to help rebuild America's middle class and to restore the American dream for working families. With support from you and from thousands of good people we have carried our positive message across the state, and we have shared our brighter vision … Read more
An old adage proves true
March 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
For Pro-Life (Forced Birth) advocates, "Life begins at conception and ends at birth."
This old adage proved true on Tuesday in the Arizona legislature. Two reports in the newspapers today should be juxtaposed side-by-side to make this point.
On a 20-10 margin, the state Senate voted Tuesday to ban virtually all abortions at 20 weeks of gestation, a measure that Planned Parenthood Arizona says makes it the most restrictive in the nation. Arizona Senate votes to ban abortions after 20 weeks – East Valley Tribune:
The vote came over objections of foes to HB 2036 who have argued that the question of terminating a pregnancy should be left to a woman and her doctor, without legislative intervention.
This is the "strike everything" amendment sponsored by Rep. Kimberly Yee (R-Phoenix) on behalf of Center for Arizona Policy aka the Christian Taliban. This is CAP's main legislative initiative this year. The bill did not get a hearing in House committees, so it was rammed through the Senate by way of this "striker" to bypass the House committees. Tuesday's vote sends the measure to the House which has not considered the issue.
Michael Bryan addressed the "legislation making performing an abortion at 20 weeks or beyond a Class 1 misdemeanor which can result in six months in jail" in an earlier post.
Nukes, duct tape and baling wire
March 28, 2012
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by David Safier New information is leaking out about radioactive leaks at the Fukushima nuclear plant. The "contained" disaster has radiation levels 10 times the fatal dose inside the No. 2 reactor and very little water– about 2 feet up from the bottom as opposed to the earlier 30 foot estimate. The most recent examination … Read more
Drinking Liberally with Dustin Cox Tonight at 6pm
March 28, 2012
By Michael Bryan Drinking Liberally has changed our meeting day from Sundays to Wednesdays. We are still at the Shanty on 4th and still start at 6. Tonight we are joined by Dustin Cox who will be running for an Arizona House seat in the new LD9 here in Tucson. Come on down to the … Read more
Action Alert: Arizona Senate to vote on contraception bill this morning
March 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Senate President Steve Pierce allowed the "Baby Blunt" bill to go to the Rules Committee on Monday, and the bill is now scheduled for a vote of the Senate this morning. The Senate will cast the final vote on House Bill 2625, which allows employers and insurance companies to opt out of … Read more
