by Sixstrings » Wed 04 Jul 2012, 13:48:54
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seahorse3', 'I') for one am glad to see a person, in particular a justice of the highest court, that can change an opinion- whether it was for ideological reasons- to keep this country united or bc he truly changed his opinion on the Constitutionality of the law, I am glad to see someone act with courage. It is one of those few moments that gives me hope in our institutions. And I applaud his courage even though I too felt like the law was unconstitutional, but it's not my decision.
Agreed.
If the SCOTUS were always strict constitutionalists then we'd still be living in the 18th century. You WANT justices who aren't ideologues, who CAN think about the good of the country and figure out a way to make it constitutional when need be.
For example, Bush v. Gore. My feeling at the time was they did that for the good of the country. Florida was a mess, hanging and dimpled punchcard chads and people fighting over microscopic impressions that may or may not be intent to punch the chad. A protracted legal battle would have been a mess. So that's why they did it, agree or disagree.
Now conservatives must accept this as well. It's for the good of the country, we have a healthcare emergency here.
P.S. I predicted all this in that other thread. Kind of surprised to see my hunch turn out to be right.
That's another angle here, Roberts knows how bad this court has been looking lately. He's chief justice. He cares about the reputation of the court and the future. Same thing when FDR was president, the Court had to wise up and back down after FDR threatened to pack them with more justices.
And besides.. the penalty IS a tax. So it's constitutional. Tea Party needs to re-read their Constitution, Congress has authority to tax. A mandate to participate in commerce that didn't have a tax for non-compliance, say jail time instead or some other penalty, could be unconstitutional.
Another way to think of it..
I'm not married and I have no kids, so I'm being taxed higher as a penalty. I can either keep paying my higher taxes or I can marry and have kids. Government is influencing behavior here with tax penalties, like it or not it is constitutional.
Lastly, we really do have a healthcare crisis. I saw a thing on CNN the other day, the US Army is now doing field hospitals to help desperate impoverished Americans -- not really to help them, it's to train for 3rd world nations overseas.
