Monday, March 26, 2012

85% of Legal Experts Predict Supreme Court Will Uphold Healthcare Law

Even though the Supreme Court skews conservative, and even though we've heard Obamacare framed as an abuse of the Constitution, the Affordable Health Law is quite the opposite. Just because a law is disliked or misunderstood, doesn't mean that it's unconstitutional. This sort of says it all:
What would really be unprecedented is for the Supreme Court to hogtie Congress to the use of 18th century regulation to solve 21st century economic problems.
That comes from the American Constitution Society blog. Here's another story that says the opposition to the healthcare law is political. Opposers have little legal ground to stand on. Here's more:
Eighty-five percent of "a select group of academics, journalists and lawyers who regularly follow and/or comment on the Supreme Court" believe the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold the Affordable Care Act, according to a new American Bar Association poll. The widespread belief among legal experts that the health care reform law is constitutional is nothing new. As Reuters’ Joan Biskupic writes in a story tracing the history of the health care litigation, legal challenges to the law were initially regarded among many law professors as “implausible” and “frivolous.” ASCLaw
From the LA Times:
Betting on whether the Supreme Court will declare "Obamacare" unconstitutional this year? At least some of the smart money is on "no." The American Bar Assn. devoted all 40 pages of the latest Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases magazine to the high court's review of Obamacare, formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (The court is scheduled to hear arguments about the law's constitutionality this month.) For this special issue, the editors of Preview polled "a select group of academics, journalists and lawyers who regularly follow and/or comment on the Supreme Court" to get their predictions on how the court would rule. The result: 85% said the act would be upheld, mainly because they believed the court would find the requirement that all adult Americans obtain insurance coverage to be constitutional. Read the rest
The Supreme Court will post audio and transcripts online.
Today, SCOTUS is hearing arguments as to whether now is the time to move forward. The NYT has a great easy to read guide to the hearings.