Still, Do Not Trust These Guys!
I was all but certain that this would be the moment SCOTUS kicks tens of millions of people off their insurance. I was certain the conservative majority would have no second thoughts about killing the ACA. Thankfully, I usually take the worst-case scenario perspective, which proved wrong; I will readily admit. That being said, I still do not trust these “center” conservative Justices. Remember that the newest of the traitor trump appointees have decades to do slowly what I thought they would do in one single ruling. And let’s be clear about something else regarding this legal challenge: California v. Texas was decided on a technicality, not on the merits of the case itself. Namely, the majority opinion found that the plaintiffs lacked standing in that there was no harm for which the court needed to remedy because — ironically — the RepubliKKKlan majority Congress removed the tax penalty for violating the individual mandate; thus, by reducing the tax penalty to zero dollars, the individual mandate became unenforceable and could not, by definition, create the necessary harm the plaintiffs claimed made the individual mandate unconstitutional. (The Court also rejected the notion of states being harmed because of the individual mandate.) The purpose of SCOTUS is to resolve actual issues — to adjudicate “only genuine ‘Cases’ and ‘Controversies,’” not give opinions on constitutional matters that do not exist, hence the Court’s claim of lack of standing. Since the Court found no standing, they did not get to the core of the case — the constitutionality of the individual mandate. In short, they punted (again), and that means RepubliKKKlans are already formulating the next legal attack on the ACA because why not? The next legal battle to take away healthcare from millions will be the forever ongoing RepubliKKKlan battle cry and culture war issue, just like Roe. It’s just a matter of finding the right legal cases to kill the ACA by a thousand cuts, just like Roe. So, don’t trust these guys — ever! This is merely one more year of reprieve for the demise of Obamacare. Whereas California v. Texas wasn’t the single case to do the job in one opinion, the hundreds more of cases to come will, for RepubliKKKlans keep learning from their losses, as conservatives’ dissenting opinions implicitly provide guidance for how to overcome certain legal shortcomings. Welcome to stupid America where one-half of the country supports trying to take healthcare away from others. Think about that!