The ruling shocked nearly everyone. And the Democrats were, indeed, wrong. The mandate is not constitutional under the Commerce Clause. That much was affirmed.
But Justice Roberts surprised everyone by allowing the mandate to survive as a tax, an argument that the government never pushed, and one Obama flatly denied, as did most Democrats.
“This is not a tax” was the Democratic mantra during the bill’s deliberations in congress. And only when they were about to see the law shot down using the Commerce Clause argument did they reverse course and claim it was, indeed, a tax.
There was never an argument on the power of congress to tax. They have that authority.
But this will, essentially, wind up as a tax on the middle class. Something Obama promised he would not do.
Now, he has officially lied about that as well.
This will energize the right to replace the Democrats in order to repeal this.
And this leaves open a number of other questions that may well end up back in front of the Supreme Court if the law is not repealed.
And while this may seem a blow to liberty, it would have been a far bigger blow to the Constitution and Liberty had the court upheld this atrocity as permissible under the commerce clause. In that sense, it was a win. There are now limits to what can be forced under the Commerce Clause.
About Tom White
Tom is a US Navy Veteran, owns an Insurance Agency and is currently an IT Manager for a Virginia Distributor. He has been published in American Thinker, currently writes for the Richmond Examiner as well as Virginia Right! Blog. Tom lives in Hanover County, Va and is involved in politics at every level and is a Recovering Republican who has finally had enough of the War on Conservatives in progress with the Leadership of the GOP on a National Level.
- Web |
- More Posts (5093)
Leave a Reply