I don’t like ObamaCare, nor the idea that the federal government can order citizens to buy things (like insurance) from other citizens, nor do I appreciate the takeover of state authority in the area of health insurance by centralized federal bureaucrats in DC. ObamaCare is rightly being challenged in court as unconstitutional. But for now, at least, it’s on the books, and it will cost | Read More »
It may be a bit early to be thinking about the 2012 election. Election campaigns definitely need to be shorter, but that’s not yet the way it is, so here are a few thoughts specifically about RomneyCare and Romney…. The recent federal law requiring an “individual mandate” for people to go out and buy health insurance is enormously unpopular with conservatives. It seems to me | Read More »
The leading case is United States v. Wong Kim Ark. That case involved parents who were in the U.S. legally when they had a child (i.e. they had “permanent domicile and residence” in the U.S.), so it’s not directly on point regarding birthright citizenship for illegal aliens. However, the Court in Wong Kim Ark gave some big hints. The Court in Wong Kim Ark stated | Read More »
Can Congress strip the federal courts of power to decide some federal legal questions, like whether gay marriage or abortion are fundamental rights under the Fourteenth Amendment? The answer is “yes”, according to an article earlier this year in the Duke University Law Review by Federal Ninth Circuit Judge William Fletcher. I emphatically agree with Judge Fletcher that Congress can indeed allow the courts of | Read More »
Almost everyone (and his or her “significant other“) has already written about Judge Walker’s gay marriage opinion. But I haven’t yet, so I’ll just address what seems to me to be the main point: the people of California have decided not to treat “domestic partnerships” one iota differently than “marriages”, and so Judge Walker is merely complaining about the words that the people of California | Read More »
Over at the Bench Memos Blog, Ed Whelan has been carefully analyzing the nomination of Goodwin Liu for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I have not taken the time to look at all of his blog posts, much less all of the material available about Liu. I do not need to. One incident alone amply confirms that this person is not qualified to be | Read More »
George Will has an excellent column today urging Congress to end automatic birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants. Bravo. Legal immigration from Mexico and other countries is wonderful, but illegal immigration continues to have a huge negative impact on our country. Comprehensive immigration reform legislation is likely this spring, and any meaningful legislation will get rid of automatic birthright citizenship. George Will quotes a recent law | Read More »
Here’s the complaint filed by fourteen states today against the federal government. Virginia will be filing a separate lawsuit. Regarding the new law’s “individual mandate” that people must buy government-approved health insurance, I think there’s a decent chance that the Supreme Court might strike it down. If the Court does so, I doubt the Court would even have to address how much power Congress has | Read More »
The health care plan that Congress recently approved requires people to buy insurance. That’s the whole basis of the thing. That way, people cannot avoid insurance until they get sick or injured, and cannot thus take advantage of the new ban on turning away people with pre-existing conditions. So, the requirement to buy insurance is a central feature of Obamacare. And, that feature will be | Read More »
According to the Daily Caller: [T]here were reports that Steny Hoyer said earlier Saturday that the House would vote on reconciliation first Sunday, and then on the Senate bill. This isn’t really all that big of a deal but apparently some Democrats wanted to vote in that order to symbolize their preference for the reconciliation legislation over the Senate bill. But I’ve confirmed with House | Read More »
The illegal “deem and pass” Slaughter Solution is now officially dead. Tomorrow (Sunday), the House is scheduled to first vote on the Reconciliation Bill, which would not become law unless and until it is approved by the Senate. The House would then vote on the Senate Bill which would become law immediately upon being signed by the President. By voting on the Reconciliation Bill first, | Read More »
Michael McConnell, a well-respected former federal appeals court judge, wrote a column a couple days ago in the Wall Street Journal contending that the “Slaughter Rule” for enacting the health care bill is unconstitutional. Tomorrow (March 20), he will have a follow-up column on the same subject in the same newspaper. Check it out. I think it’s 100% spot-on. According to Allahpundit, “The left reacted | Read More »
From the diaries by Erick Lefty pundits nationwide are currently dismissing GOP objections against the Democratic “deem and pass” health care strategy, on the ground that the GOP has itself used “deem and pass” for many years. Robert Schlesinger, opinion editor at U.S. News and World Report, writes: The GOP used self-executing rules [i.e. "deem and pass"] 35 times in 2005-2006 alone (the last time | Read More »
A few minutes ago, I read a couple posts at Ezra Klein’s blog at the Washington Post, both dated today. In the first one, he describes the House’s three options: 1) The House would vote on the two bills separately. Upon passage, the Senate bill would be ready for the president’s signature. The amendments, meanwhile, would go to the Senate for approval there. Call this | Read More »
According to sometimes-reliable Associated Press: Conservative Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said in an interview that Republicans “won’t have any trouble having hundreds of amendments,” though he said each would make a valid point and not be aimed at delay. I have some big problems with this, if it’s really true. First of all, a strategy of “messaging amendments” didn’t exactly work wonders back in December | Read More »
The House is considering whether to have a single vote on two bills at once: (1) the Senate Health Care Bill and (2) the Reconciliation Bill. The two bills that the House is now contemplating directly contradict each other. For example, one says that Nebraska gets the “Cornhusker Kickback” and the other says Nebraska does not get the “Cornhusker Kickback.” I think the constitututional principle | Read More »
Several web sites are keeping track of how congressmen will probably vote. For example: David Dayen at Firedoglake The Hill Jay Cost at RealClearPolitics Hotline On Call According to Hotline On Call, “momentum has been completely on the GOP’s side over the last few days, and now, even stalwart Dems like Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Mike Capuano (D-MA) are expressing concern about the bill.” | Read More »
From Politico: Senate Republicans caused a major stir Thursday when they told reporters that the parliamentarian had informed them that the Senate bill needed to be signed into law before lawmakers took up a sidecar bill to fix it. And Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) told his Democratic colleagues during a caucus meeting Thursday that he had heard the same thing. But according | Read More »
House leaders are considering approving the Senate health care bill by simply approving a reconciliation bill that would make some changes in the Senate health bill, without actually voting on the Senate bill. The House would simply “deem” the Senate bill as passed. The mastermind behind this “Slaughter Strategy” is House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter. This nutty plan seems like a sign of desperation, plus | Read More »
If Democrats attempt to ram through a reconciliation bill by simple majority vote in the Senate, then the GOP can offer an unlimited series of amendments. Federal law says so clearly and unambiguously: “a motion to strike a provision shall always be in order.” That’s from 2 USC 641(d)(2). Democrats are now threatening to amend this clear provision of federal law by a simple majority | Read More »
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