To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.
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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.
Marie: Sorry, my countdown clock was unreliable; then it became completely unreliable. I can't keep up with it. Maybe I'll try another one later.
Public Service Announcement
The Washington Postpublishes a series of U.S. maps here to tell you what weather to expect in your area this summer in terms of temperatures, humidity, precipitation, and cloud cover. The maps compare this year's forecasts with 1993-2016 averages.
Zoë Schlanger in the Atlantic: "Throw out your black plastic spatula. In a world of plastic consumer goods, avoiding the material entirely requires the fervor of a religious conversion. But getting rid of black plastic kitchen utensils is a low-stakes move, and worth it. Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid." This is a gift link from laura h.
Mashable: "Following the 2024 presidential election results and [Elon] Musk's support for ... Donald Trump, users have been deactivating en masse. And this time, it appears most everyone has settled on one particular X alternative: Bluesky.... Bluesky has gained more than 100,000 new sign ups per day since the U.S. election on Nov. 5. It now has over 15 million users. It's enjoyed a prolonged stay on the very top of Apple's App Store charts as well. Ready to join? Here's how to get started on Bluesky[.]"
New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.
Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts.
New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”
No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. -- Magna Carta ~~~
~~~ New York Times: “Bought for $27.50 after World War II, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946. That is about to change. Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered that it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.... A 710-year-old version of Magna Carta was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.... First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England — or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry’s son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300.”
NPR lists all of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners. Poynter lists the prizes awarded in journalism as well as the finalists in these categories.
Wherein Michael McIntyre explains how Americans adapted English to their needs. With examples:
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. — Anonymous
A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. — Edward R. Murrow
Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns
I have a Bluesky account now. The URL ishttps://bsky.app/profile/marie-burns.bsky.social . When Reality Chex goes down, check my Bluesky page for whatever info I am able to report on the status of Reality Chex. If you can't access the URL, I found that I could Google Bluesky and ask for Marie Burns. Google will include links to accounts for people whose names are, at least in part, Maria Burns, so you'll have to tell Google you looking only for Marie.
Every day that I've been a United States Senator, I've been either discussing issues [or] ... in Secret Meetings with Kings and Queens and Prime Ministers.-- Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)
What I Learned in Secret Meetings With Kings and Queens and Prime Ministers.
By Scott Brown, U.S. Senator
King Juan Carlos of Spain taught me how to kiss the ladies' hands:
CW: I once personally witnessed Juan Carlos kiss Hillary's hand. It was long ago and Juan Carlos was the Sexiest Man Alive.Speaking of hands, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia taught me how to hold hands with men:
Speaking of kisses, King Abdullah taught me how to do that, too:
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain taught me that little royal wave that looks so appropriate when I wave at voters from my little red truck:
Prime Minister David Cameron taught me how to suck up to Rupert Murdoch:
Prime Minister Tony Blair taught me how to suck up to Rupert Murdoch:
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher taught me how to suck up to Rupert Murdoch:
My column in the New York Times eXaminer today is titled "David Brooks -- Constitutional Scholar." The NYTX front page is here.
Art by DonkeyHotey.
** Neal Katyal, former Acting U.S. Solicitor General under President Obama, in a New York Times op-ed: "Time will tell whether today’s decision foreshadows things to come.... Americans are growing increasingly comfortable, if not always happy, with the idea of nine men and women in Washington handing down rulings that remove decisions from the legislative process or even rewrite legislation altogether. While Chief Justice Roberts wrote an opinion that was apolitical and deserves much praise for its statesmanship, he did so within a legal context that is becoming less and less democratic.... It makes imperative a serious conversation about judicial restraint." CW: Katyal goes into detail -- but clearly explained -- about the implications of the ruling on future legislation. Read the whole piece.
Prof. Laurence Tribegets into the weeds -- a bit more difficult to comprehend than Katyal, but worth it.
Tom Scocca of Slate: "By ruling that the individual mandate was permissible as a tax, [Chief Justice Roberts] joined the Democratic appointees to uphold the law -- while joining the Republican wing to gut the Commerce Clause (and push back against the necessary-and-proper clause as well).... This is a substantial rollback of Congress' regulatory powers, and the chief justice knows it. It is what Roberts has been pursuing ever since he signed up with the Federalist Society. In 2005, Sen. Barack Obama spoke in opposition to Roberts' nomination, saying he did not trust his political philosophy on tough questions such as "whether the Commerce Clause empowers Congress to speak on those issues of broad national concern that may be only tangentially related to what is easily defined as interstate commerce." Today, Roberts did what Obama predicted he would do." Thanks to Haley S. for the link. ...
Judge Richard Posner, a Reagan appointee to the Appellate Court, on why the Commerce Clause was sufficient grounds to uphold the ACA. Posner ends, "I am surprised, finally, by the lifelessness of the joint dissenting opinion."
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "I think Chief Justice Roberts ... threw himself on his sword for the court in a way that would have made William Rehnquist proud." ...
... In her post today, Greenhouse speculates that Roberts had a late-breaking change of heart & switched his decision from nay to yea. But she also notes that, however & whenever he came to his decision, he is playing a long game.
E. J. Dionne: "The court's mixed verdict could create problems, notably in its weakening of the law&'s Medicaid provisions in the name of states' rights. While the impact of this part of the ruling is not fully clear yet, the court may have effectively denied health-care coverage to a large number of poorer Americans." ...
... Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: "That ruling, experts say, could leave some of the poorest Americans in a 'no-man's land:' Not covered by the federal entitlement program but not eligible for the subsidized health insurance."
Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild Season, thro' a pleasant Country, in easy stages. -- James Madison, 1794
Health insurance itself is unconstitutional. James Madison, who wrote the damned Constitution, opposed doctoring altogether. But Congress could pass a mandate requiring leisurely sojourns in the Dordogne. -- Constant Weader Originalist
Smashing Broccoli. Charles Pierce: ... and why Sen. Jim DeMint (RTP-S.C.) is "the greatest walking argument there is that the Civil War was a complete waste of blood and treasure."
Paul Krugman: "... the winners from that Supreme Court decision are your friends, your relatives, the people you work with -- and, very likely, you.... The law that the Supreme Court upheld is an act of human decency that is also fiscally responsible.... At one level, the most striking thing about the campaign against reform was its dishonesty.... But what was and is really striking about the anti-reformers is their cruelty.... The cruelty and ruthlessness that made this court decision such a nail-biter aren't going away."
CW: my favorite videographer Jed Lewison of Daily Kos compares & contrasts Obama's & Romney's statements to the press. As Lewison writes, "Once again, it turns out that President Obama's best surrogate in making the case against Mitt Romney ... is Mitt Romney. Obama's campaign team couldn't in a million years have done a better job of making Mitt look small":
Alec MacGillis of The New Republic: "The fight over the Affordable Care Act now shifts fully into the political realm, with Mitt Romney (the law's pioneer!) as its last line of attack. Which means that it will be up to Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates to finally be making the forthright, full-throated defense they have until now shied from."
Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner & Affordable Care Act. (Actually, the photo was taken Wednesday, but it still works for me.) Photo via Steve Benen of the Maddow Blog.Steve Benen: "... it's worth singling out Nancy Pelosi, who fought harder and worked longer to get the nation to this point."
Helen Philpotcomments on the ruling, which naturally leads her to remarks like this: "The only interest the Tea Party has in making government smaller is that a smaller government will more easily fit in a woman's vagina." Thanks to reader Bonnie for the link.
AND the Award for the Best Headline of the Day Goes to -- Dana Milbank: "The Umpire Strikes Back."
Right Wing World -- Taxes, Treason & Terrorism
Taxes! General Rushbo Gives the Foot Soldiers Their Marching Orders. Brett LoGiurato of Business Insider: Rush Limbaugh "railed against the Supreme Court on his radio show Thursday, blasting John Roberts and saying that America had 'been betrayed and deceived by the Supreme Court.' He said it was the 'largest tax increase in the history of the world. What has been upheld here is fraud, and the Internal Revenue Service has just become Barack Obama's domestic army.... That is what we face now. We were deceived. Obamacare was a lie. It was a stealth tax on all Americans, and nobody knew it until today. Not officially. Obama told George Stephanopoulos it wasn't a tax.'" With audio. CW: this is the same language I heard coming from all over Right Wing World yesterday, including from Members of Congress. The militaristic language is as absurd as it is scary. What is entirely deceptive about the claim of course is that for ordinary citizens it makes absolutely no difference what you call the penalty for not carrying health insurance. This is not, as Rushbo & the troops are pretending, a "new tax"; rather, it's a different name for a fine that was already in place. It is true that -- as Tom Scocca outlines above -- Roberts' ruling makes a huge difference because the effect is to limit Congress's ability to regulate interstate commerce. But in the instant law, that makes no difference to Joe Schmo. If he can afford to buy health insurance & doesn't, he's going to pay a fine/tax/penalty/premium/offset/whatchamacallit.
Treason! Matt Lewis of the Daily Caller: "Conservative leader and chairman of ForAmerica, Brent Bozell had harsh words for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. 'His reputation is forever stained in the eyes of conservatives, and there will be no rehabilitating of it,' Bozell said. 'He will be seen as a traitor to his philosophy. If the swing vote had been Kennedy, conservatives would have been disappointed, but not surprised.... But the fact that it was Roberts, I think, was shocking.... People are already talking about the idea that he could be replaced as Chief Justice.'"
Terrorism! Jake Sherman of Politico: "In a closed door House GOP meeting Thursday, Indiana congressman and gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence likened the Supreme Court's ruling upholding the Democratic health care law to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.... He immediately apologized."
Presidential Race
Tim Egan: Mitt Romneyis still a weasel. CW: I think Egan is wrong when he writes that Romney would not "deny care to those with pre-existing conditions"; Romney has said more than once that people who don't have health insurance & can't get it are out of luck. But I might be wrong: maybe Romney has changed his position; it's been known to happen occasionally.
New York Times Editors: "Because the Supreme Court did not repeal the law, Mr. Romney vowed to do so himself on his first day as president, a vow that will be impossible to fulfill, not just on his first day, but ever if he cannot round up 60 votes in the Senate. Otherwise the heath care law will stay on the books, and ... he will have taken an oath to uphold it.... Much of what he said was flatly wrong. The law does not add 'trillions to our deficits and to our national debt.' It lowers the deficit...." ...
... David Firestone of the New York Timeslays into a few more Romney lies. ...
... Jamelle Bouie in the Washington Post: "The fact that Romney has decided to fabricate knocks against the Affordable Care Act is a sure sign that this ruling was bad for his campaign."
Other Stuff That Matters ...
Eric Holder Is Black. Charles Pierce: "Out in front of the capitol, assistant Democratic leader Jim Clyburn had just finished saying, "This is not about oversight. This is about overkill.... This is Dan Burton, who was going after Ron Brown because of stuff he made up. Now it's Chairman Issa, going after Attorney General Holder over stuff he made up.' You will note that Clyburn didn't cite Bill Clinton, Burton's major target back in the day, but the late Ron Brown, another African-American cabinet member. Clyburn's meaning could not have been clearer. Then, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, who is so good with the whip that 17 members spit in the administration's eye..., took the microphone, and the first thing he said was, 'This is not about race.'" CW: And the guy Eric Holder works for is black. And Eric Holder is fighting GOP efforts to disenfranchise black voters. No, this just could not be about race, could it, Steny? ...
... Dave Weigel of Slate on why Republicans can't celebrate their contempt citation of AG Eric Holder -- because, the citation wasn't about politics, see; it was about getting to the truth for the Terry family -- relatives of Brian Terry, the border patrol agent killed with a U.S.-purchased gun by members of a Mexican drug cartel. CW: I don't know why nobody says this: Terry was killed with an American gun because Republicans have made gun laws -- especially in Texas -- so lax that U.S. law enforcement could not prosecute the purchasers even though they knew what the gunrunners were up to. The GOP is blaming Eric Holder for laws they & their colleagues in state legislatures put in place. This is a classic case of passing the buck.
... And Stuff That Doesn't
Every day that I've been a United States Senator, I've been either discussing issues [or] ... in Secret Meetings with Kings and Queens and Prime Ministers.-- Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)
CW: I keep forgetting to run this. M. J. Lee of Politico, June 21: "Sen. Scott Brown raised eyebrows by saying in a radio interview Thursday that he has 'secret meetings with kings and queens' and other leaders every day." ...
... Glen Johnson of the Boston Globe: "Remember Scott Brown’s gaffe ... about meeting with kings and queens? His staff was quick to say the comment was a flub, acknowledging that the senator has not actually met with royalty. But the Massachusetts Democratic Party today released a video showing four prior examples when Brown used the same phrasing about meeting with 'kings and queens' while speaking to audiences as part of his reelection bid." CW: the video is truly hilarious:
News Ledes
The Hill: "Congress on Friday approved legislation that will extend federal highway programs through 2014, a low interest rate on student loans for one year, and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years. Leaders in the House and Senate negotiated the giant package, leaving no doubt that it would have enough support to pass. The bill will likely be the last major piece of legislation approved by Congress until after the November elections."
Swift Justice. Washington Post: "The Justice Department declared Friday that Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to withhold information about a bungled gun-tracking operation from Congress does not constitute a crime and he won't be prosecuted for contempt of Congress." The House voted Thursday afternoon to hold Holder in contempt. The DOJ wrote to Speaker Boehner announcing its decision in a letter dated Thursday but not released till today.
AP: "U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts joked that he'll spend some time on an 'impregnable island fortress' now that the court has ended a session that featured him casting the decisive vote to uphold President Barack Obama's health care law."
Denver Post: "The roaring Waldo Canyon fire that exploded into west-side neighborhoods of Colorado Springs destroyed 346 homes -- making it the most destructive wildfire in state history. It also has claimed at least one life. Colorado Springs Police Chief Pete Carey announced late Thursday that human remains had been found in a burned home in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood." Includes map, links to related stories.
Guardian: "European leaders have pulled back from the brink of disastrous failure in their attempts to rescue the euro, throwing a lifeline to the weakest links in the eurozone by agreeing to shore up struggling banks directly, remove disadvantages for private creditors and move quickly towards a new supervisory regime for banks.... Italy and Spain stunned Germany by blocking progress until they obtained softer bailout rules in 14 hours of bad-tempered talks." New York Times story here.
New York Times: "As global powers prepared for an 11th hour effort to revive the stalled peace effort in Syria, Kofi Annan, the special envoy and mediator who called the meeting, said on Friday he was optimistic that that talks in Geneva would yield an acceptable result despite Russian calls for changes in his settlement ideas." ...
... BUT. AP: "Government troops rained tank and artillery shells down on a rebellious suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus Friday, killing at least 43 people over two days, opposition groups and activists said."
Washington Post: "The Air Force is investigating a growing sexual-misconduct scandal in its basic-training operations, with a dozen male boot-camp instructors under suspicion of assaulting, harassing or having sex with female recruits. The case originated with a single complaint filed a year ago by a woman at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. It has snowballed into potentially the worst sex scandal in the U.S. military since 1996."
Washington Post: "United Technologies, a major defense contractor, and two of its subsidiaries on Thursday acknowledged covering up the illicit sale of sensitive military software to China -- technology that the country later used to develop its first attack helicopter. Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges against the firms and a fine of more than $75 million for what they called a violation of U.S. export laws. Justice officials said the software sold to China posed a risk to American troops overseas and U.S. allies." CW: and you know the Pentagon will keep letting contracts to UT. So, big punishment.
New York Times: "Rupert Murdochplayed offense on Thursday, embarking on a rare publicity campaign to extol the economic prospects of News Corporation's newspapers after announcing earlier that they would be spun off into a separate company." Guardian story here.
New York Times: "An anonymous survey of nearly 2,000 retired officers found that the manipulation of crime reports -- downgrading crimes to lesser offenses and discouraging victims from filing complaints to make crime statistics look better -- has long been part of the culture of the New York Police Department."
AP: "Japan and South Korea put on hold an intelligence sharing pact less than an hour before it was to be formally signed Friday, in a major embarrassment for both countries forced by a political outcry in Seoul."
AP: "China's first female astronaut and two other crew members emerged smiling from a capsule that returned safely to Earth on Friday from a 13-day mission to an orbiting module that is a prototype for a future space station."
ABC News: "A U.S. Army battalion commander was killed by a fellow soldier on Thursday in a shooting incident at Fort Bragg, N.C. The alleged gunman then shot himself and is in custody; a third soldier was slightly injured in the shooting."
AP: "Struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. said Thursday it will delay the launch of new phones deemed critical to the company's survival and revealed its business is crumbling faster than thought. The Canadian company posted results for its latest quarter that were worse than analysts had expected. It's cutting 5,000 jobs and unexpectedly delaying the launch of its new phone operating system, BlackBerry 10, until after the holiday shopping season."
Lyle Denniston from the SCOTUSblog liveblog: "Essentially, a majority of the Court has accepted the Administration's backup argument that, as Roberts put it, 'the mandate can be regarded as establishing a condition -- not owning health insurance -- that triggers a tax -- the required payment to IRS.' Actually, this was the Administration's second backup argument: first argument was Commerce Clause, second was Necessary and Proper Clause, and third was as a tax. The third argument won.... The rejection of the Commerce Clause and Nec. and Proper Clause should be understood as a major blow to Congress's authority to pass social welfare laws. Using the tax code -- especially in the current political environment -- to promote social welfare is going to be a very chancy proposition.... For all of those who second-guessed the Solicitor General's defense of ACA, it might be worth noting that the tax defense of the mandate was, indeed, an argument that the government lawyer did advance."
Prof. Adam Winkler on SCOTUSblog: "With this deft ruling, Roberts avoided what was certain to be a cascade of criticism of the high court. No Supreme Court has struck down a president's signature piece of legislation in over 75 years. Had Obamacare been voided, it would have inevitably led to charges of aggressive judicial activism. Roberts peered over the abyss and decided he didn't want to go there."
Bryce Covert of Forbes: "Women in particular should pop the champagne and celebrate.... They can rest assured that the Supreme Court won't get in the way of their insurance coverage, which should mean more accessible and affordable care."
Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Now that the health-care law has been largely upheld by the Supreme Court, the GOP-controlled House plans to vote to repeal it -- again."
Screenshot via Washington Post.Screenshot via Washington Post.
A Few Words from Right Wing World
Just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be 'constitutional' does not make it so. The whole thing remains unconstitutional. While the court may have erroneously come to the conclusion that the law is allowable, it certainly does nothing to make this mandate or government takeover of our health care right. -- Sen. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.) via SCOTUSblog
Obama lied to the American people. Again. He said it wasn't a tax. Obama lies; freedom dies. -- Former Half-Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska)
Pre-Decision:
Linda Greenhouse restates her prediction the Court will uphold the act. One bit of evidence she gleaned from the decisions released Monday was from Chief Justice Roberts' dissent in Miller v. Alabama:, where the majority "barred mandatory sentences of life without parole for those convicted of committing murder before the age of 18."
Noting that the federal government and most states have such sentencing laws on their books, the chief justice criticized the court's majority for having failed to 'display our usual respect for elected officials.' Courts 'must presume an Act of Congress is constitutional' barring some obvious reason it isn't, he said, citing a 19th-century precedent for that proposition. And quoting the 1976 Supreme Court decision that reauthorized capital punishment, he said there was a 'heavy burden' on 'those who would attack the judgment of the representatives of the people.' The court heard argument in the life-without-parole case during the same March sitting in which it heard the Affordable Care Act case -- which at its core comes down to the authority of judges to substitute their views on matters of economic policy for those of the people's elected representatives.
... CW Update: Linda Greenhouse is a rock star! See today's News Ledes.
Wall Street Journal: "The Supreme Court will decide the fate of President Barack Obama's health-care law Thursday morning."
News Ledes
These are the ledes related to the Court's decision. For other news ledes, see the June 28 Commentariat:
New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday largely let stand President Obama's health care overhaul, in a mixed ruling that Court observers were rushing to analyze. he decision was a striking victory for the president and Congressional Democrats, with a majority of the court, including the conservative chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr., affirming the central legislative pillar of Mr. Obama's term. Many observers called the case the most significant before the court since at least the 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling, which decided a presidential election."
SCOTUSblog will liveblog the Supreme Court proceedings beginning at 8:45 am ET. The Court will issue opinions beginning at 10 am ET. The liveblog will be on their home page, which is here. In the event that crashes or you can't get on because it is overloaded, there is a backup page at this address that will also carry the liveblog. All updates below via SCOTUSblog:
... "In Alvarez, the Ninth Circuit is affirmed. Per Kennedy. His opinion is for a plurality. The statute violates the First Amendment. Breyer and Kagan concur and conclude that the Act as presently drafted fails First Amendment scrutiny. Alito, Scalia, and Thomas dissent. So the upshot is that this version of the Stolen Valor Act is unconstitutional, but Congress may be able to do a new law." The opinion is here (pdf).
... ** The individual mandate survives as a tax. Chief Justice Roberts joins the left of the Court. The bottom line: the entire ACA is upheld, with the exception that the federal government's power to terminate states' Medicaid funds is narrowly read. Chief Justice Roberts' vote saved the ACA." (CW: and saves the reputation of the Court.)
... "The money quote from the section on the mandate: 'Our precedent demonstrates that Congress had the power to impose the exaction in Section 5000A under the taxing power, and that Section 5000A need not be read to do more than impose a tax. This is sufficient to sustain it.'"
... "The key comment on salvaging the Medicaid expansion is this (from Roberts): 'Nothing in our opinion precludes Congress from offering funds under the ACA to expand the availability of health care, and requiring that states accepting such funds comply with the conditions on their use. What Congress is not free to do is to penalize States that choose not to participate in that new program by taking away their existing Medicaid funding.'" (p. 55)
... "To readers of the Roberts opinion, a caution: It is the opinion of the Court through the top of p. 44; the balance is labeled as, and is, Roberts speaking for himself."
... "The Court holds that the mandate violates the Commerce Clause, but that doesn't matter b/c there are five votes for the mandate to be constitutional under the taxing power. Justice Ginsburg makes clear that the vote is 5-4 on sustaining the mandate as a form of tax. Her opinion, for herself and Sotomayor, Breyer and Kagan, joins the key section of Roberts opinion on that point. She would go further and uphold the mandate under the Commerce Clause, which Roberts wouldn't. Her opinion on Commerce does not control.... Justice Ginsburg would uphold Medicaid just as Congress wrote it. That, too, is not controlling.
... Kennedy is reading from the dissent. Kennedy: 'In our view, the entire Act before us is invalid in its entirety.'" CW: Huh, not "the decider."
... "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."
CW: I once personally witnessed Juan Carlos kiss Hillary's hand. It was long ago and Juan Carlos was the Sexiest Man Alive.Speaking of hands, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia taught me how to hold hands with men:
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