The US Supreme Court handed down its decision on Obamacare subsidies yesterday and people were rightly pissed off.
The Supreme Court basically said, “Look, we know this is what they really meant even though the text of the law says otherwise, so meh….we’ll allow it to stand as they intended.”
Justice Antonin Scalia was not pleased and actually said because of the action by the court in two decisions that it should be called “SCOTUSCare.” Justices, when they dissent, usually write, “I respectfully, dissent.” Scalia wrote, “I dissent.”
The decision set off a firestorm of comments directed at Chief Justice John Roberts ranging from garden variety criticism to idiot rantings about him being beholden to the socialist whims of President Obama. There are some calling him a “traitor” which is just appalling.
I don’t like the decision. I think it’s wrong and I think Roberts was too concerned about the legacy of the court than he was about how poorly the law was written. Actions have consequences and Democrats along with President Obama should have had to deal with the ramifications.
That said, this kind of talk from Ben Shapiro is just silly:
No need to wonder whether Chief Justice Roberts was a disastrous pick. He was. And yes, I told you so at the time.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 25, 2015
Disastrous pick? That’s a stretch considering Roberts other decisions which everybody seems to forget about. For decades, conservatives were waiting for the Supreme Court to finally say whether once and for all, the second amendment to the constitution protected the right of an individual to possess and/or own a firearm.
The Heller decision held that it does protect the rights of individuals and Chief Justice Roberts joined with Justices Scalia, Alito, Kennedy and Thomas to affirm that.
This was one of the most important Supreme Court decisions in the history of the United States.
For all the foolhardy comparisons to David Souter, Roberts didn’t “betray” anybody on the second amendment and that is far more important than some statutory interpretation of Obamacare.
Heller’s impact affected laws and statutes in states such as New York, Illinois and California. Because of the Heller decision, courts ruled in California that bans on concealed carry and open carry are unconstitutional. A similar carry ban in Washington DC was also struck down as unconstitutional.
It is largely the reason Democrats have essentially abandoned any real attempts at gun control, only paying lip service to it to secure donations from those who hold out hope they’ll do anything.
The ramifications of the Heller decision will be felt until another court rules differently or the constitution is amended.
If people want to dress as Purity Police and start running around ranting about everything that is not perfectly within their narrow view of issues, go right ahead. But constantly being on the lookout for the perfect candidate for office, the perfect judge or the perfect justice is always going to leave people disappointed and bitter.
Criticism of Chief Justice Roberts is one thing and it is warranted in this case. However, declaring him to be George W. Bush’s version of David Souter or worse, a “traitor” is just absurd.