IIRC it was just easier to replace Rehnquist with a new Chief Justice, than to have congress go through 2 confirmation hearings - One for Roberts, and one for the new Chief Justice.And a second related question. Why was Roberts picked as Chief Justice almost as soon as he started his job?
Today is a day that will live in irony:
- Individual healthcare mandate upheld by a Supreme Court Majority led by Chief Justice Roberts who then-Senator Obama voted against confirming.
- Gov. Romney blasts as "bad policy" a federal law wholly based upon the MA law he championed and signed into law.
- Pres. Obama, who argued that the individual mandate was NOT a tax, has the lynchpin of his healthcare plan ruled constitutional by virtue of it being...a tax.
- The philosophical justification for viewing the mandate as a tax has its roots in the MA law championed by and signed into law by Gov. Romney, which explicitly treats the mandate as...a tax.
You guys that are happy are pretty naive to think the government will get this right.
I'll add to the pot the Americans who have been quoted today as saying that after this decision, they'll move to Canada to avoid "socialized Obamacare". Say whut? I assume these are the same people who went to rallies against Obama's healthcare plan holding signs saying, "Keep the government's hands off my Medicare!" Rush Limbaugh once said he'd move to Costa Rica for the same reason--but they also have socialized medicine.
I find our American friends puzzling to say the least. Many great countries, mine included, have state-run healthcare. None of them are perfect, but all of them are better (in my humble opinion) that a "health care system" in which decisions are made based on profit rather than the needs of patients.
Thursday’s health care ruling shocked most observers. It upheld the health care law as constitutional. But rather than find that the law was justified under Congress’ authority to regulate commerce, it instead found it was justified only under Congress’ power to tax. It also imposed limits upon Congress’ ability to condition spending grants to the states upon those states taking certain steps. To my knowledge, former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger was the only person who thought that the court would ultimately rule on those grounds. I certainly was surprised.
I don't give a rats ass about politics. What I do care about is my health. This law helps protect me from the shithead insurance companies. Now, I cannot be denied based on pre-exisiting conditions, or dropped.
I don't give a rats ass about politics. What I do care about is my health. This law helps protect me from the shithead insurance companies. Now, I cannot be denied based on pre-exisiting conditions, or dropped.
I'll say it again. We are ranked anywhere between #38 to #45th in life expectancy behind those countries whose governments are MUCH more involved in the health care system than we are. If their systems are soooo bad, why are they living longer?
I don't think anyone is saying that Obama's plan is perfect...........far from it, but it's a step in the right direction that has been a loooong time coming.
I heard Romney today, and all he said was that when he's President, he's going to strike this bill down, without ever coming up with a plan to supersede it, when he himself, passed the exact same bill when he was governor. Instead of striking down the bill, how 'bout work on tweaking it to make it better?
Spare the WHO stats. Socialist statistics, from socialist countries on socialized medicine, haven't any meaning to me, whatsoever. Its a biased study.
As things stood before, if I lost my health insurance (for any reason) I am totally fucked. I would not be able to get anymore, and I would be in horrible pain while my body destroyed itself. This helps me, period.