Do you remember back in June 2012 when people attempted to make excuses for Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision to uphold Obamacare by claiming his labeling of the individual mandate as a ‘tax’ was some kind of brilliant political move? Do you remember when those same people claimed the characterization of the mandate as a ‘tax’ would pave the way for lawsuits that would ultimately lead to Obamacare’s repeal?
Well, Chief Justice Roberts just blew that theory out of the water with his unilateral decision to turn away – without comment – an emergency stay request from the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, Inc. and the Alliance for Natural Health USA.
[The Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, Inc. and the Alliance for Natural Health USA] asked the chief justice Friday to temporarily block the law, saying Congress had passed it incorrectly by starting it in the Senate instead of the House. Revenue-raising bills are supposed to originate in the lower chamber. They also wanted blocked doctor registration requirements they say will make it harder for independent non-Medicare physicians to treat Medicare-eligible patients.
“Remember all of the people [who called into this program] when [Roberts rewrote the law],” Glenn said on radio this morning. “And said you know, John Roberts is brilliant because what he's done is he's set it up as a tax. And [Obamacare] started in the Senate, not the House. And you have to have all taxes start in the House. And so, we're going to file litigation and say, ‘They wrote it unconstitutionally!’”
When you consider Chief Justice Roberts had the opportunity to rule the law unconstitutional with the strike of his pen, that logic seemed a little naïve. And now it is clear he never intended to have the law struck down in that way.
“[He offered] no comment on it even,” Pat said of Chief Justice Roberts most recent decision. “He just said, ‘No. No, we're not hearing that.’”
“But wait a minute. You just said it was a tax. And all taxes have to begin in the House… He changed it to a tax,” Glenn interjected. “But, now, all he's done is just sharply defined that yes, we no longer care about the Constitution in Congress. We no longer care about it in the Administration. And the Supreme Court doesn't care about the Constitution at all. That's what he's just done. You might as well just put ‘F-you’ on a piece of paper and shown it to the Constitution… Because that's all he's done."
