ObamaCare Painted into a Corner
Like me, you may have been alarmed by yesterday's headlines trumpeting a federal judge's stay of his earlier order finding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [sic] unconstitutional. Take heart: Judge Vinson's stay is conditioned on the DOJ filing an expedited appeal within seven days. A rapid resolution to the dispute is decidedly not what the Obama Administration was looking for, as its bureaucrats furiously work to embed ObamaCare into our health delivery system ahead of the law being thrown out for good. The Heritage Foundation provides the definitive analysis:
The plaintiffs had asked the judge to treat the DOJ’s motion to “clarify” as a motion for a stay and to deny the motion. Judge Vinson did treat the motion to clarify as a motion to stay his earlier judgment but then offered a clever compromise to the Obama Administration: He granted a stay for seven days but only on the condition that the Administration file an appeal within that period that requests expedited appellate review, either in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit or in the Supreme Court. Judge Vinson also noted that the appeal could be expedited because the briefing on the underlying legal issues was already submitted in his court.
This is a serious strategic loss for the government. Judge Vinson has challenged the federal government to speed up the appeals process, which would normally take much longer, forcing the hand of the Administration, which would like to slow down the litigation through questionably legal tactics if it can get away with it so it can implement as much of Obamacare as possible before it gets to the Supreme Court.
Happy Friday.
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Comments :
Oct '10
Re: ObamaCare Painted into a Corner
Thanks for the encouragement, George. I agree with your analysis.
Unless the Supreme Court decides to expedite the appeals process, I am afraid we are going to experience a lot of yo-yoing as the cases work their way toward their final resting place.
Nov '10
Re: ObamaCare Painted into a Corner
Judge Vinson’s 20-page opinion is available here and is worth reading. He takes the Obama administration to the wood shed for ignoring his earlier decision and continuing to implement Obamacare, and he pretty clearly is not impressed with the DOJ argument that they didn’t understand his decision saying he found it to be clear. It was a declaratory judgment that is self-executing; the claim that they were free to continuing implementing because the Judge has not issued an injunction was specious because no injunction was necessary. This post by Orin Kerr has more.
Oct '10
Re: ObamaCare Painted into a Corner
This is not the first time the Executive has failed to yield to Judicial authority, but it does up the ante in the game of Constitutional chicken.
May '10
Re: ObamaCare Painted into a Corner
The way I understand it, Judge Vinson could have issued an overt injunction before, but he contented himself with another method which merely implies an injunction. Vinson thought an actual injunction would be overkill. But only a fool would refrain from taking precautions when faced with a lawless President like Obama and a nation-changing issue like Obamacare.
Vinson was a fool. This act redeems him.
Re: ObamaCare Painted into a Corner
This is clever. It gives them what they want but at a price. On the other hand, I do not want this settled in the courts prior to the first Tuesday in November, 2012. There is a specter haunting American politics, and it is the prospect that this monstrosity will actually be implemented. It has concentrated the minds of the American people wonderfully.
Oct '10
Re: ObamaCare Painted into a Corner
An expedited appeal is at the discretion of the appeals court while Judge Vinson’s stay is permanent. Prior to this ruling, the administration had no legal basis to continue its implementation of the law; Judge Vinson just gave the administration permission to continue.
Sep '10
Re: ObamaCare Painted into a Corner
This story's headline by Reuters was "Judge Refuses to Halt New Health Care Law." Simple propaganda.
May '10
Re: ObamaCare Painted into a Corner
Here's a ♫ LIKE ♫ in high C for this post!