'Obamacare' will be discussed this week at Supreme Court,

[elleng]

Mon,Tues,Wed, recorded and available for public to hear 3 afternoons. WHETHER the mandate is constitutional, and WHETHER mandate is 'separable' from the rest of the bill, are 2 of the issues planned for discussion.

I'm not betting, but hoping that many DUers will listen, to get an understanding about how the Court works.

[PoliticAverse]

1. I wonder if Thomas will ask a question. n/t

[elleng]

2. :shrug:

Well, we can listen!

[jonthebru]

3. SNL should have fun with this.

Showing the bought off right wing corporatists doing their nails or reading magazines during the testimony because they already made up their minds.

[elleng]

4. This is why I hope people listen,

especially those who assume every decision that goes against what they want is because 'they already made up their minds.'

Considering cases which reach the Supreme Court are frequently highly intellectual exercises, and we all should become aware of this.

P.S., the Justices are not hearing 'testimony,' but they are hearing Oral Argument.

[chnoutte]

5. What concerns me the most is the mandate

and if it is found legal to force people to buy a 100% private product with no or few government price controls or over site.

If the mandate is found to be legal, then what product will people be forced to buy next?

Medicare for all is and was the only solution to the HC problem in America.

[area51]

6. +1, the mandate is unconstitutional.

The GingrichCare mandate won't solve the problem of 100,000 deaths per year that could have been prevented if we didn't have a broken health care delivery system.

Single-payer/Medicare for all.

[hughee99]

8. Perhaps the next thing Americans will be forced to buy

is a photo ID for voting? It's going to take all of about 10 seconds for someone to ask why the government forcing someone to pay a thousand dollars for insurance is okay, but a $35 photo ID is an unfair financial burden.

[underpants]

7. I have read several articles saying that this ruling will decide the election

see if Obamacare goes down (it won't) then he loses his marquee accomplishment.

Like it or not the MSM has this as the conventional wisdom

[PoliticAverse]

9. Counter argument is if 'Obamacare' does down it'll be one less thing for Republicans to run against.

[cbayer]

10. I am really looking forward to this.

The sirius NPR station will be covering it throughout each day and summarizing the arguments as they are presented.

Should lead to tons of interesting debate on the call in shows.

I love this kind of thing.

[elleng]

11. Should do,

and I love listening to plain old arguments, on C-Span radio, weekly; sat in car for 30 minutes yesterday listening to this week's argument in case whether children, conceived in-vitro after father had died, are entitled to SocSec Survivor Benefits.
Geeky me, I LOVE the process!

[cbayer]

12. I miss the days of long Congressional hearings, too.

Watergate, Clarence Thomas.... we need another one!

[elleng]

14. Sure do, and REAL FILIBUSTER!

[lonestarnot]

13. K & R.

[elleng]

15. ISSUES TO BE DISCUSSED BY SUPREMES/'OBAMACARE.'

Last edited Sat Mar 24, 2012, 10:24 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2012/march/15/supreme-court-curtain-raiser.aspx

'What's the likely outcome?

Nobody knows. It's clear that the court's four more liberal members, like almost all other liberal legal experts, will find the law constitutional in all respects. It's also clear that conservative Justice Clarence Thomas will vote to strike down much or all of the law. It's less clear what swing-voting Justice Anthony Kennedy and conservative Chief Justice John Roberts as well as Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito will do.

Kennedy, Roberts, Alito, and (especially) Scalia -- whom the government's brief quotes five times -- have all joined past decisions construing federal regulatory power very broadly. Two respected conservative federal appeals court judges, Laurence Silberman and Geoffrey Sutton, who is one of Scalia's favorite law clerks, have upheld the law.'