Supreme Consequence

The Supreme Court began hearing arguments last week on whether or not the Affordable Care Act is constitutional without the individual mandate, which the Republicans repealed in an effort to weaken the law so it could be killed.

But Chief Justice John Roberts took issue with the idea that taking out a part of the law to make it violate the Constitution.  He strenuously opined that the Democratic Congress that passed it never intended to allow such a thing to happen, even as the Republicans never repealed (or replaced) that whole damn law to begin with.   

"I think it's hard for you to argue that Congress intended the entire act to fall if the mandate was struck down when the same Congress that lowered the penalty to zero did not even try to repeal the rest of the act," Roberts told the attorney representing the state of Texas, which is one of several states pursuing the case against the law. "I think, frankly, that they wanted the Court to do that, but that's not our job." 

And whether or not newly appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett agrees with that, one Trump appointee apparently does - Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who seemed to concur with the Chief Justice over the intentions of the legislative branch.

For obvious reasons, I'm not sure I can trust Justice Kavanaugh, at least not completely, at this moment, but Chief Justice Roberts, despite his ideological leanings, has proven himself to be a decent and fair man, and he holds a lot of sway in prickly issues like regulating health care.  After all, he saved the law in 2012.  Right now, it looks like the law may be upheld, mandate or not.  And President-elect Biden will almost certainly try to restore the mandate and build further on the law . . . even as Mitch McConnell, who is likely to remain Senate Majority Leader, will almost certainly to have a problem with that.  A compromise deal between Biden and McConnell could stave off the case by reinstating the mandate and allowing Congress to set the penalty.  Whatever happens, those who benefit from the Affordable Care Act can probably breathe a little more easily than the could in October.