We wuz wrong.
We said back in March that the Supreme Court would overturn the Affordable Care Act “and get a fat laugh out of doing it.” We said the court had already made up its mind to kill health care reform for partisan reasons.
5-4, the Court proved us wrong.
Even more stunning, Chief Justice John Roberts provided the fifth vote. We had said that he would “have no qualms about setting aside justice to do what’s best for the Republican Party.”
Sure, Justice Roberts may be playing some longer game to undermine the commerce clause. (Hog-tying the clause seems to be a fetish of the legal right.) Or maybe the Chief Justice’s own history of seizures made him just a bit more sympathetic to those who need health care.
But for one day, at least, he voted with the court’s more moderate bloc, and good for him. This crow tastes great!