The Supreme Court Had No Jurisdiction to Review the ACA Case as It Did The truth of the matter is there was no basis for the Supreme Courts opinion. The standard of review applicable is that, because courts should presumptively defer to the judgments of legislatures so as not to usurp their power and authority, a statute should be invalidated only if its unconstitutionality is so clear that it is not open to rational question. That standard of review was ignored in deciding the case and the Court did exactly what it was not supposed to do. And Roberts and the conservative majority knew it too. But he paid the proper standard of review slipshod lip service before the conservative majority and the other Justices went on to otherwise ignore it. Did he think we wouldnt notice the farce? Roberts began his constitutional analysis by citing the case law for the proposition that proper respect for Congress mandates that the Court may strike down a statute only if the lack of constitutional authority to pass [the] act in question is clearly demonstrated. He noted that the Supreme Court possessed neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. The Constitution entrusts policy judgments to our Nations elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not [the Supreme Courts] job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices. He went on, of course, to uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on bogus legal and policy grounds wholly outside the Courts proper scope of review. This Court and most especially the conservative majority is an aggressive one that too much simply ignores the law as I have pointed out both here and in an earlier post explaining the actual earlier and controlling precedent on point --and then goes off and simply does what it wants. This case is an example of Posners theory on that point vindicated. It is a lawless bunch up there.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 20:14:16 +0000
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