December 31, 2013
WASHINGTON — Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Obama administration from forcing some religious-affiliated groups to provide health insurance coverage of birth control or face penalties as part of the Affordable Care Act.Although this
Acting at the request of an order of nuns in Colorado, Justice Sotomayor issued the stay just hours before the requirement was to go into effect on New Year’s Day. She gave the Obama administration until Friday to respond to the Supreme Court.
Which, to some of us (including widowed near-septuagenarians such as myself) seems only reasonable.
Unfortunately, this issue may become something of a "Tipping Point" for ObamaCare.
If it is either legally or morally inappropriate for the Federal government to impose birth control insurance premiums on individuals who don't expect to face that health-care situation, then why would it be appropriate for the Federal government to impose ANY insurance clauses on ANYONE who objects to them?
As is true in almost any civic law that the Supreme Court (or any of its individual Justices) take an interest, this is an "800 pound Gorilla In The Corner" which may react dramatically to ensuing events. If the ObamaAdministration ... no, let's be honest about this ... if President Obama personally fights this action, it may lead to the entire ObamaCare law being opposed by the Supreme Court on more than one ground.
Note that previous challenges on the basis of constitutionality have already been successfully met and overwhelmed. Specifically, the requirement that private individuals MUST adhere to federally mandated insurance mandates has been accepted because this socially tumultuous law has been designated by the White House and Congress as a "tax". And Congress is constitutionally empowered to impose taxes on American citizens.
Now, however, we see that the law might be interpreted by the Supreme Court as violating the First Amendment of the Constitution ...
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
If Obama opposes Justice Sonia Sotomayor on this issue, that will open the door for opposition to the enforcement of ObamaCare by the Supreme Court, which has the power to declare the entire multi-hundred page law unconstitutional (and therefore unenforceable) until the question is resolved. That is, resolved to the satisfaction of The Court.
ObamaCare has been walking on little cat feet, like a San Francisco fog, for months. Now the Administration faces a challenge which it cannot win. This is the strength of the American Constitution. The tripartite nature of American government ... legislative, judicial and executive branches ... have the constitutional power to stymie each other on the basis of legality and constitutionality. While they have been careful avoid exciting the other two branches in recent years, Obama has for the past several months been striding boldly into areas where no-one has gone before.
This time, Obama may have tripped over his dictatorial tendencies.
It is the designated duty of both Congress and The Supreme Court to oppose the Executive branch when that portion of government seems to have exceeded its constitutional powers. Congress has neither the will nor the intestinal fortitude to oppose Obama's end-run on the right of The People to decide for themselves what level of health insurance they can afford.
Like the Second Amendment, it's not about the mechanics. It's about the Rights of The People.
When the Federal government stoops to using taxes not to finance The Common Good but to impose The Common Good ... and makes us pay through the nose for the privilege of being Governed ... then there's something wrong with this system.
Not the Carrot, but the Whip.
This guy has lost all perspective. It's time that someone said "Hey, wait a minute!"
Thank you for stepping up to the plate, Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
1 comment:
You are wrong in one part. The administration and the portion of congress that wrote and passed Obamacare NEVER called it a tax. They were adamant it was not a tax. It was the supreme court majority that termed it a tax and therefore constitutional. But who cares. Our political rulers, this includes the courts, have determined the constitution means whatever those in power want it to mean, and what fits their political goals.
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