Health Care Ruling, Some More Info

Unless you were living in a cave the last couple of days, you are aware that a Florida District Court Judge has ruled the entire health care law unconstitutional when he ruled in favor of a suit brought by 26 states, with Florida in the lead.

Last night on Fox News, Greta interviewed several of the Attorneys General of the states involved with the suit.  One of the themes that Greta latched onto during the latter part of her interviews was her feeling that the Supreme Court should be able to take on this case in a matter of a few months.  The normal process during cases heard by the SCOTUS is for it to run through an appeals process and then get listed on the SCOTUS case docket.  This can take a few years. The figure bandied about last night was 2-4 years.  But there are exceptions. Rule 11 of the Supreme Court basically says that a lower court ruling can bypass the appeals process “upon a showing that the case is of such imperative public importance as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this Court”.  Both sides would have to agree to this step.

It would not surprise me in the least if the Holder Justice Department didn’t do all that it could to drag their feet in getting this to the Supreme Court.  I think they realize that the unconstitutionality of Obama Care is gaining traction and they may want to avoid a speedy judgment. Their thinking might be the more of the health care bill that comes on line, the more difficult it will be for the Justices to rule against it. They are not supposed to take those kinds of things into account when ruling on the law, but when you are desperate, you start grasping for straws.

Right now, conventional wisdom has this running 5-4 in favor of striking down the health care bill, with Justice Kennedy casting the deciding vote.  Another point brought up on Greta’s show was Justice Kegan and the fact that when she worked in the White House she was one of the point people on getting this passed. There might be an argument on her being rescued due to a conflict of interest.  I’m not a lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night, so this does make some sense to me.