Supreme Court Watch – Open Thread

There are two very important things the SCOTUS will rule on this week. One, of course is on the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, which will have wide reaching consequences on the availability of health care for millions of Americans and could effect the outcome of the 2012 Presidential election.

The ruling on the bill by the SCOTUS will also put the SCOTUS on trial by Public Opinion, for being the most political, Right Wing Court in History.

And the other big ruling is Arizona’s “show papers’ law that allows law enforcement to demand papers that show that people are actually citizens of the U. S. or are here legally. This ruling will also have a far reaching effect for us.

Check back in comments for updates on these rulings.

Also this week, the House will bring to the floor a vote on whether to hold Atty Gen. Eric Holder in Contempt of Congress. This, too, will be covered in comments.

Also, check back for updates here.

Supreme Court sets Thursday for healthcare ruling reut.rs/LvHfjL

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) June 25, 2012

Monday, June 25, 2012:

U.S. Supreme Court strikes down most of Ariz. crackdown on illegal immigrants. trib.in/LWjBfO

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) June 25, 2012

RT @Edpilkington SCOTUS upholds Section 2b of SB1070, clause in AZ immigration law that Hispanics fear will lead to mass racial profiling

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) June 25, 2012

UPDATE June 28, 2012 From www.scotusblog.com

Tom:

So the mandate is constitutional. Chief Justice Roberts joins the left of the Court.

Congress can do the ACA under tax authority! Mandate as tAX

Amy Howe:
In Plain English: The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional. There were not five votes to uphold it on the ground that Congress could use its power to regulate commerce between the states to require everyone to buy health insurance. However, five Justices agreed that the penalty that someone must pay if he refuses to buy insurance is a kind of tax that Congress can impose using its taxing power. That is all that matters. Because the mandate survives, the Court did not need to decide what other parts of the statute were constitutional, except for a provision that required states to comply with new eligibility requirements for Medicaid or risk losing their funding. On that question, the Court held that the provision is constitutional as long as states would only lose new funds if they didn’t comply with the new requirements, rather than all of their funding.