The New “Shared Responsibility” Power
So we now know Congress cannot make us eat broccoli under the Commerce Clause, but can do so by enacting a broccoli mandate and imposing a failure-to-eat-broccoli tax. The lack of a limiting principle...
View ArticleWhy Upholding ObamaCare Will Badly Damage Obama’s Reelection Chances
Having already written about the majority opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, what about the politics of the decision? I have argued before that while overturning the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be a...
View ArticleObama’s Systematic Assault on the Truth
The Democratic talking points have been issued and are being followed to the letter (see here and here). And they go like this: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not a tax; it’s a penalty. Those who...
View ArticleWas Roberts’ Opinion Only an Essay?
As Peter Wehner notes, now that Chief Justice Roberts has upheld the ObamaCare mandate as a “tax,” the administration no longer views it as a tax. Those finding solace in the fact that the chief...
View ArticleThe Great Miscalculation of John Roberts
Conservatives have been rightly disappointed with the Supreme Court ruling to uphold ObamaCare, but that disappointment has been all the more bitter because the case has been full of unpleasant...
View ArticleJohn Roberts, Chief Sophist
In his Washington Post column, Michael Gerson writes this: Even in a short time, Roberts’ decision has not worn well. What initially seemed wise now smacks of mere cleverness—less a judge’s prudence...
View ArticleObama Ignores Own Executive Order on Gitmo Detainee Rights
It seems ages ago that President Obama delivered a speech in the early days of his presidency, suffused with self-righteousness and moral demagoguery, announcing he was closing the Guantanamo Bay...
View ArticleHow the Court Made a Bad Bill Worse
In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett provided a concise summary of the “saving construction” Chief Justice Roberts used to uphold the Obamacare statute. By...
View ArticleThe Court, Marriage, and Federal Power
After two days of hearings on cases relating to the legality of measures opposing gay marriage, it is not possible to discern what will happen when the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its rulings. The...
View ArticleSCOTUS Gives Religious Freedom a Hearing
Finally, after three years of debate and litigation, the nation will get an answer. The Health and Human Services Department’s ObamaCare mandate that forces all employers to pay for abortion drugs has...
View ArticleHigh Drama at the Court Tomorrow
Tomorrow at 10 a.m., the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning. It is a very important case, which is why the court is allowing 90 minutes...
View ArticleCan SCOTUS Curb Obama’s Imperial Presidency?
In June 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court had a chance to derail a vast expansion of government power by the Obama administration. But the court wound up ruling that ObamaCare was constitutional, even if the...
View ArticleLiberals’ Hobby Lobby Scare Campaign
Tomorrow the U.S. Supreme Court finally takes up a case that has been headed toward their courtroom since the 2010 passage of ObamaCare. Two private companies are challenging the Department of Health...
View ArticleThe Shrinking Mandate and Freedom
We won’t know the outcome of today’s hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court of the Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius case, which tests the right of the government to impose a mandate forcing all businesses to pay...
View ArticleCourt Strikes a Blow for Free Speech and Political Sanity
Liberals didn’t like the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling that struck down federal limits on political speech from independent groups because they saw it as a the first step toward...
View ArticleAnger at SCOTUS? Liberals v. Constitution
The rage directed at the U.S. Supreme Court in the last 24 hours is instructive. From the White House to the editorial pages of most of the mainstream media, Democrats and liberals have depicted the...
View ArticleSCOTUS Roulette: Why Winning Matters
In recent years discourse between various wings of the Republican Party has descended into a fight between people who largely view each other as stereotypes rather than allies. Given the stakes...
View ArticleFreedom for Religion, Not From It
Today the U.S. Supreme Court once again affirmed that the so-called “wall of separation” that exists between church and state is not quite the edifice that liberals would like it to be. In Town of...
View ArticleThe President Versus the Constitution
Conflicts between the legislative and executive branches are as old as the republic. But in recent years, the growing power of the presidency has added new urgency to these issues. That’s the context...
View ArticleFree Contraception v. the Constitution
Liberal anger over last week’s Hobby Lobby decision increased on Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court granted a provisional exemption to a Christian college that objected to being compelled to pay or...
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