Daily Events...
Obamacare goes to the Supremes
By John Hayward  
October  1, 2011 

On Wednesday, the National Federation of Independent Business petitioned the Supreme Court to review a decision from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding ObamaCare.  The Obama Justice Department feels good about its general track record defending the law in appeals courts, and has also filed a petition with the Supremes.  

The Administration could have kept things bottled up in the 11th Circuit for a while, but most observers agree it would go all the way to the highest court sooner or later... and if “later” meant after the 2012 elections, there might have been a very different Justice Department arguing the government’s case, with decidedly less enthusiasm.  

From a legal standpoint, this is the main event: The heavyweight title fight between Obama’s health care scheme and the nation that never wanted it.  If the Supreme Court upholds the 11th Circuit’s decision on the unconstitutionality of the individual mandate, but rejects the notion of “severing” it from the rest of the bill, ObamaCare is dead at last.  If the mandate remains “severed,” ObamaCare lurches forward without its heart, with the remains of its basic logic and funding mechanism surgically removed… while our national debt blasts into orbit. 

And if the individual mandate is held to be constitutional, the relationship between American citizens and their government changes forever.  It won’t take long for the all-powerful State to think of other formerly voluntary transactions it can make compulsory, for our own good. — John Hayward 

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