Tuesday Reads: GOP Anxious About Upcoming SCOTUS Decisions
Posted: June 9, 2015 Filed under: Barack Obama, morning reads, Republican politics, SCOTUS, U.S. Politics | Tags: Affordable Care Act, same-sex marriage, Supreme Court decisions 57 Comments
Good Morning!!
The Supreme Court is in the news today, as its current session approaches its end.
The two most consequential decisions to be announced will have serious implications for the health care system and settle the question of same sex couples should have equal rights to marry and have the same benefits of marriage as heterosexual couples. Some other important decisions have already been announced.
The Obamacare case is the one making news today, after President Obama spoke publicly about the upcoming decision on the Affordable Care Act yesterday at the G7 Conference in Germany.
Politico reports, Obama: Supreme Court shouldn’t have heard Obamacare challenge.
President Barack Obama expressed deep frustration with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, questioning why justices even took up a case that imperils his signature health insurance reform plan.
The high court is set to issue a decision on the case, known as King v. Burwell, by the end of the month. A ruling against the government would mean that 6.4 million people in the 34 states relying on the federal Healthcare.gov website would be at risk of losing subsidies that make their insurance affordable.
“This should be an easy case. Frankly, it probably shouldn’t even have been taken up,” Obama said at a news conference after the G-7 summit in Krun, Germany. “Since we’re going to get a ruling pretty quick, I think it’s important to assume that the Supreme Court’s going to do what legal scholars would expect them to do.”
Obama repeated the administration’s contention that there’s no contingency plan or fix to keep insurance markets from going into a tailspin, predicting that the justices would decide in his favor. And in any case, he added, Congress could fix the ambiguous phrasing of the health law “with a one-sentence provision.”
But Republicans made it clear that they aren’t going to allow an easy fix. From Bloomberg, GOP Swiftly Rejects Obama’s ‘One-Sentence Fix’ to Obamacare If Supreme Court Voids Subsidies.
“Let’s be clear: if the Supreme Court rules against the Administration, Congress will not pass a so called ‘one-sentence’ fake fix,” Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, who is leading Republican efforts to craft a contingency plan, said in a statement.
At issue is whether a handful of words in the Affordable Care Act mean the government cannot provide insurance tax credits for millions of Americans in 34 states enrolled through HealthCare.gov, rather than a state exchange. Without the subsidies, insurance will become unaffordable to many and premiums are almost certain to skyrocket across the board. Even so, Barrasso and his fellow Republicans say Obama acted illegally by doling out the subsidies. A victory in the case King v. Burwell would probably create chaos, and ironically put Republicans on the hook for resolving it.
In his statement, Barrasso accused Obama of “bullying the Supreme Court” and said the Republican-led Congress is “prepared to help” Americans who may be harmed.
But is it? Republicans have struggled to coalesce around a contingency plan if the ruling goes their way. A victory could backfire on the GOP without a viable response, as Democrats would be armed with attack ads accusing them of pushing for a ruling that threw millions of Americans off their health care plans without a plan to help them.
Even a simple fix is dangerous for Republicans. Conservative lawmakers in the House worry that a such a move to clarify that the subsidies are available in all 50 states would be attacked by their base as a vote for Obamacare.
According to The Hill, Republicans fear they will win ObamaCare court battle.
Republicans in Congress are worried the Supreme Court will hand them a major headache this month if it rules against the federal health insurance exchanges in more than 30 states, ending subsidies for millions of people.
While the Affordable Care Act remains broadly unpopular, two new polls show a majority of Americans don’t want to do away with its subsidies, a core component of the law.
This poses a conundrum for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). They are under pressure from colleagues up for reelection in swing states and districts to extend the subsidies, at least temporarily, if the court strikes them down. But doing so would risk a backlash from the conservative base.
The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision in King v. Burwell, which could strip 6.4 million people of health insurance subsidies, in late June.
States that would be hardest hit by a ruling against the law include the Senate battlegrounds of Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Greg Sargent at Morning Plum: In battleground states, voters don’t want Supreme Court to gut subsidies.
As your humble blogger has tirelessly reiterated, the states with the highest numbers of people who stand to lose subsidies if the Supreme Court guts them also happen to be the main presidential and Senate battleground states. That overlap could increase the political stakes in the battle that will follow any Court ruling against the ACA.
Now a new Washington Post poll confirms the stakes here. It finds that in many key battleground states, a majority says the Court should not end subsidies for those on the federal exchange.
The Post poll finds that among Americans overall, 55 percent oppose a Court decision killing the subsidies, while only 38 percent support it. Independents oppose such a decision by 57-36, while Republicans are alone in supporting a decision against the ACA by 55-34.
Among the states in which the largest numbers of people may lose subsidiesare Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Ohio. Those are key presidential battlegrounds, and Republicans are defending Senate seats in five of them.
The upcoming marriage equality decision could also backfire on Republicans:
The LA Times: GOP’s same-sex marriage trap: Conservatives oppose it intensely.
The Supreme Court may be just weeks away from declaring a nationwide right to same-sex marriage with a ruling likely to trigger public opposition — and private sighs of relief — from most Republican presidential hopefuls.
Why relief? The marriage issue increasingly has become a trap for Republicans, and a Supreme Court decision that takes the matter out of the political process would provide the easiest exit. The court is expected to rule this month on whether the Constitution protects marriage rights for gay couples.
A new poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center highlights Republicans’ predicament. By 57% to 39%, Americans favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally. But among Republicans, only about one-third agree.
Moreover, among those who describe themselves as conservative Republicans, 40% say the issue is “very important” to them, and they overwhelmingly oppose marriage rights for gay couples.
Overall, the poll found, opponents of same-sex marriage are more likely than supporters to describe the issue as “very important.” In part, that may be because about two-thirds of white, evangelical Protestants, who make up a large share of the opposition, say there is “a lot” of conflict between homosexuality and their religious beliefs.
For would-be Republican presidential nominees, that sets up a difficult problem. Support for same-sex marriage rights would put a candidate at odds with a huge bloc of voters in GOP primaries on an issue they deem “very important.” But vocal opposition to those rights would put a candidate out of step with a large and growing majority of the public.
Recently announced SCOTUS decisions:
Yesterday the Supreme Court decided that U.S. citizens who were born in Jerusalem cannot list their birthplace as Israel on their U.S. Passports. Richard Wolfe at USA Today:
The Supreme Court declined Monday to insert itself into the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by second-guessing U.S. policy on Jerusalem.
Ruling just a few months after a feud between President Obama and Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, the justices refused to allow Americans born in Jerusalem to have their passports changed to reflect Israel as their birthplace, as Congress demanded more than a decade ago.
In denying the challenge waged by the Jewish parents of a 12-year-old almost since his birth in 2002, a majority of justices heeded the State Department’s warning that a simple passport alteration could “provoke uproar throughout the Arab and Muslim world.”
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the 6-3 decision for the court, which needed more than seven months following oral arguments in early November to decide the congressional law was unconstitutional. It was the longest-pending high court decision.
“The power to recognize or decline to recognize a foreign state and its territorial bounds resides in the president alone,” Kennedy said, citing examples from the French Revolution in 1793 to President Jimmy Carter’s recognition of the People’s Republic of China in 1979.
Lyle Denniston has a detailed analysis of this decision at SCOTUSblog.
In another interesting decision, the Court let stand a San Francisco gun control law. NPR reports, Supreme Court Rejects NRA Challenge To San Francisco Gun Rules.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block two San Francisco gun control measures that were fiercely opposed by the National Rifle Association. At least one veteran court observer says the high court’s decision raises questions about how the justices interpret the Second Amendment.
First, the basics: A 2007 San Francisco ordinance requires residents to keep handguns under lock and key or to use trigger locks when they are not carrying their weapons. Another law, dating to 1994, bans the sale of ammunition that expands on impact, or hollow-point bullets.
Plaintiff Espanola Jackson and seven other petitioners, including the NRA, filed suit in 2012. They sought an injunction to keep the lockbox law from being enforced. But in March 2014, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the City and County of San Francisco and left both measures intact.
Read more at the link.
Finally a new CNN poll shows that Americans don’t trust the current Supreme Court on “key issues.”
With major Supreme Court decisions on health care and same-sex marriage expected this month, many lack trust in the Supreme Court’s handling of those two issues, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.
Yet most approve of the way the court is handling its job generally.
A majority, 52%, say they approve of the way the court is handling its job, while 41% disapprove. That’s an improvement from an even 48% to 48% split two years ago. Still, when Americans are asked how much they trust the court on a range of issues it will be considering this term or the next, the worst ratings come on health care and same-sex marriage. Only about half say they have at least a moderate amount of trust in the court on health care (50%) or same-sex marriage (49%). There is more faith in the Supreme Court on other key issues on the docket, with most saying they trust the court at least a moderate amount on freedom of speech (69%), voting rights (65%) and the death penalty (60%).
Read the rest at CNN.
What else is happening? As always, this is an open thread, so please post your thoughts and links on any topic in the comments.
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Sky Dancing 
I was going to write about the Texas pool party issue, but I still haven’t figured out exactly what happened. I know there is one policeman who needs to be fired and that some adults in the neighborhood are vicious racists, but I can’t figure out if there were really fights among the party goers or just that situation where a white woman grabbed two African American girls by their hair and slapped another one. Why hasn’t she been arrested?
I’d appreciate info from anyone who knows the details. I’m going to try to read up on the incident today between naps. My cold is still mutating…..
Hope your cold goes away soon!
Thanks. It’s better, but I still have pretty low energy levels.
It doesn’t seem to me there were fights among the kids. There was a lot of chaos and running around after the cops showed up and that one asshole went batshit insane.
From what I’ve been reading this morning, it doesn’t sound like there was any trouble until two white women started yelling racial slurs at the kids. The black kids at the party mostly lived in the affluent community and had key cards for the pool. One of the white women is on video grabbing two black girls by the hair as they scream for help. When the girl who organized the party tried to intervene, the woman slapped her across the face.
Another young girl said the policeman punched her in the face when she tried to explain what was happening with the parties.
One of the4 2 white women has been identified as a BofA employee in McKinney but I forgot the name. It was all over twitter last night.
In reply to your 3:22pm comment, I’m sure the ones here are too but these people don’t care. They just want them to go away. It’s hysteria over the fact that there are black people who can afford to live in these neighborhoods. The white bigots can’t deal with it. I’m sure that’s a factor in the Texas incident. The black kids in the neighborhood dared to bring their black friends over. Quick! Call the cops!
( agree completely with that.
Yes, the BOA employee was the blonde woman who pulled two girls by the hair and slapped the girl who was giving the party across the face. I saw it on twitter too. I looked at her Facebook page, but now I’ve forgotten her name.
The neighborhood reminds me a lot of my current neighborhood but mine isn’t quite as affluent. The racism is rampant and if the white people here are aware of it they do little to hide it. I try to convince myself that they don’t recognize it in themselves. I’m in the neighborhood FB group and whenever there is a complaint about some teens or teens’ behavior, you know exactly which teens in the neighborhood they are talking about. When my husband used to volunteer on the HOA, some people would complain about kids who didn’t live in the neighborhood using our basketball court. Okay, first of all, who gives a shit? But the real kicker was when they were asked how did they know the kids didn’t live here or might have been guests of someone here and the complainers would say, “You can just tell…” There are also people who fish from the road in our lake. “You can just tell…” they are not from around here AND the monsters keep the fish rather than throw them back. To my mind, if they are fishing for food that’s a hell of a good reason to let them be.
A lot of those black kids lived in that neighborhood. Of course, they still weren’t white so that seemed to be a problem for some folks,
I’m in moderation with a comment identifying one of the 2 white women who started the mess.
https://twitter.com/EndiveG/status/608324310701342720
This seems like a good take on the McKinney fiasco.
TPM: A Former Cop On What Went Wrong In McKinney
Yeah, and what went wrong is going wrong all over this country. Here a couple who owns their home is going to be sued for putting up wheelchair ramp for her husband who suffered a stroke:
http://www.wsmv.com/story/29268975/hoa-threatens-to-sue-homeowner-over-wheelchair-ramp
What that HOA is doing is illegal. The ADA allows disabled people in apartments and houses to have wheelchair ramps. It’s the law. This couple should contact their Area Agency on Aging for help.
I had to do this for my wheelchair-bound mother. Her landlord ( may he go to hell ) refused to allow her to have a wheelchair ramp. He didn’t think it looked “nice”. Without one, she couldn’t get out of the apartment even during a fire. I let the asshole landlord know he was breaking federal law. My mother got her ramp.
Nobody messed with my mother if I was around to prevent it.
Brentwood, TN is in Williamson County. Their Area Agency on Aging and Disability website is:
https://www.gnrc.org/agencies-programs/aaad/
You know Beata, I am glad you spoke up. I think I will give those people a call tomorrow. You are a strong minded woman, just like we are . I am so glad you stood up for Mom.
My first home, was suppose to have old fashion wrap around porch/rails, etc. I told my husband, that on the right side of the house I wanted a ramp for anyone in a wheelchair. It so happened to be his Grandma Bertha. Over the years, I had nothing but praise for having that ramp, except in winter, it froze over, and was real hard to keep up.
Having suffered a stroke, having a tumor, having a back issue, it really hurts to see people humiliated and seeing them in discomfort, it drives me crazy.
Luv you Beata, dealing with personal injury and illnesses yourself, and attending to your mother, you have been through it girl, and still standing strong.
Love you too, Fannie. Thank you for everything you do to help others.
I’m very familiar with this neighborhood. It is an upscale Condo enclave in an upscale part of Williamson County. Williamson County is the wealthiest county in TN and is 16th on the list of wealthiest counties in the Country. The Condos range from $550k to $800K. Williamson is where most of the Country Music Stars, Doctors, Professional Athletes, Bankers, etc live. Many in the Brentwood Section have more square feet of living area in their garages, then my entire neighborhood combined. It’s a sight to behold. Also a lot of the churches in Brentwood look like Country Clubs and they do have their own Country Club, 3 of them in fact.
I’m following this story and have shot off a few complaints to the people and entities involved. And FYI, this is the County that Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) represents. You might want to send her an email too.
That area seems to have a real hatred of blacks, as most are republicans. They called the police because like others in the community they think they would all benefit if poor black kids were removed from the neighborhood. The adult women made name calling racist remarks.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/troubled-waters-in-mckinney-texas/395150
Coming from the infamous St. Thomas Projects of New Orleans, public housing for the poorest working white neighbors, of the time. I recall being a teen, and all the public swimming pools were closed because of the newly enacted civil rights laws. I remember my mother being angry that she couldn’t take us to the City Park swimming pool that summer. When Pres. Kennedy signed the fair housing order, people all over were pissing and moaning about housing values, and neighborhoods like St. Thomas, going to hell. It was already a hell hole, because you sure in the hell didn’t see any rich people there.
The Craig Ranch North Community Pool, use to be public, and now it’s privatized (just what the republicans like), and stock full of Home Owners Association Rules. According to the above article, in 2009 McKinney blocked Section 8 vochers……and to hell with fair housing orders from the Federal Government. Seems to me the poor are being preyed upon, more so now that ever.
I mean, there were the poor kids who got left out of inflatable carnival houses and slides because they couldn’t afford $10. Then you have Kalief Brower who couldn’t post bond, and never had a trial, and spent 2 or 3 years in a torture chamber 24/7. Now you have these kids being thrown to the ground and mistreated. It takes a real special kind of hatred, you know what I mean?
Someday people who mistreat the disabled, the elderly, and the poor will get their comeuppance. I believe that.
“Let justice roll on like a mighty river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.”
Beautiful quote!
In the end, everything must balance.
BB have you found out who the fatass shithead dude from the video is? The one who is holding the girls back from helping the girl who is assaulted by the cop. He is walking around the video looking and helping out the cops. I say helping the cops as in “helping” if you get my drift.
Yeah, the one standing over her?
Yeah.
I think he was part of the HOA people, and as you can see, he thinks he knows who should and shouldn’t be at the pool. And if something was going to come down, he was going to let it happen.
No, I haven’t seen anything about him yet. Ugh.
I’m glad to hear that SCOTUS let stand the San Francisco rulings, but a little surprised.
Me too.
Josh Marshall:
Did Republicans Swallow Their Own Grenade?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/did-republicans-swallow-their-own-grenade
There are suckers born every minute and these numbers prove it.
You’re gonna love this BB
They are so terrified that now they’re trying to blame this on Obama. Pathetic!!!
They are masters at confusing the population, because they have no solutions, no options. They are also setting the “circus stage” for show in 2016.
Well it’s going to be fun to watch. I thought the 2012 crew was a riot, but this bunch may even be better. I can’t wait for their debates. I’m already stocking up on popcorn & beer.
Me too.
Wow, the twisted “logic” there is amazing!
Yes, I saw that yesterday. Ridiculous!
Thune becams an instant laughing stock.
I scribbled off a few words to him. The first sentence started with, IDIOT!!!
Whoa! That makes my head hurt! WTF?
LOLsob.
Teach me everything you know 😉 This was so thorough!
I’m Canadian, so issues that were settled here ages ago like free healthcare and same-sex marriage just seem like a no-brainer to me. My wife and I have been married for almost 8 years. That said, I’m obsessed with U.S. politics and I have been for years. I can’t look away.
The fact that voting rights are still under attack there blows my mind.
Re: the Texas pool party incident, here is what I posted yesterday. Excuse the shameless plug. If it provides any additional information, that’s great. http://wp.me/p68Sm1-m In it, I link to several informative sources. From what I gather, some racist adults started attacking African American kids for attempting to swim while black. According to last night’s piece on The Daily Show, many of the African American kids there in fact had pool passes. Planning to post an update to that effect on my article right away.
Anyway, I plan to repost your article. Thanks for the read!
Thanks very much Patty. I only wish the U.S. could be as enlightened as Canada–although the right wing has gotten more influential up there like everywhere else. We will never escape the fact that this country was founded and built on a foundation of slavery.
You’re right on all counts. We’ve had the same conservative Prime Minister for a decade now. I wish our political leaders had term limits. You’re ahead of the game that way.
I would give anything to have someone like Obama here, tbh.
In Canada, things have been regressing for a while. This country is becoming harder to recognize all the time. People are complacent and don’t bother voting. Also we have 3 parties on the left and one on the right, meaning the right doesn’t get anywhere near the majority of votes but still manages to squeak through a win over and over again.
What a shame. It’s happening in Europe too. Exactly what the world does not need.
Thanks for the link to your blog. It’s important to try to get a clear picture of everything that happened and your links were helpful. The more I learn about the incident the more I agree with your description, those kids were attempting to swim while black. White people here are so conditioned to fear black people that they react and overreact to those fears and leave their humanity behind.
A lot of white Canadians have a tendency to treat First Nations people (our term for Native Americans) the way African American people are treated in the U.S. Thanks for your feedback!
P.
Nice post. Just one correction. Most of the black teens at the party lived in the gated neighborhood and had key cards for the pool, as did the black girl who hosted the party.
Thanks. I actually went in and updated that yesterday but perhaps it didn’t take. I’ll have another look.
Oh, sorry about that.
McKinney police officer Eric Casebolt has resigned.
NPR: McKinney Police Officer Seen Pinning Black Girl To The Ground Resigns
Sad thing is, he’ll go get another job as a cop in a different community.
Vincent Bugliosi died at 80.
LA Times: Charles Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi dies: What became of others
I love the Raging Grannies!
That is awesome!