Hurting the innocent as a political tactic......enough about the judges. Focus on the litigators

[kpete]

Halbig and hurting the innocent as a political tactic
Andrew Koppelman




......enough about the judges. Focus on the litigators—people who have opposed Obamacare from the beginning, and who are now trying to sabotage it in any way they can, even if there is no likelihood that it will produce a political result that they find more palatable. I’ve spoken to some of these lawyers, and they argue that, whatever the value of the subsidies for all the low-income people who depend on them for medical care, the rule of law demands that their reading of the statute be followed. This is an odd version of the rule of law: The legislative scheme has to be distorted on the basis of a clever argument that was invented out of whole cloth by these same lawyers. The chaos that would follow their victory probably would not be good for the Republican party. It would be a disaster for the judiciary, which is why the suit is likely to be ultimately rejected by the courts. Many people, right now, are getting diabetes and cancer treatment through the subsidies that this litigation aims to terminate. An ethical person would think about those consequences before bringing a case whose ultimate purpose is merely to harass one’s political adversaries.


Read the whole thing (terrific):
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118822/halbig-v-burwell-example-moral-dysfunction
via: http://balkin.blogspot.com/2014/07/halbig-and-hurting-innocent-as.html

[DreamGypsy]

1. Harming innocent people as political tactic...

...has, in recent years, apparently become a central plank in the Republican party platform.

health care, wages, food, housing, infrastructure, the environment, the list goes on and on

[whateyethynk]

2. Obamacare: Republican's Last Hurrah?

QUESTIONS ON THE LEGALITY OF FEDERALLY ISSUED ACA SUBSIDIES --

This is simply a last hurrah in the Republican Party's efforts to keep their base in a frenzy over the President, his Party and his health care law until after the 2014 election. Until, you know, they are back in charge and all is right with the world. When they will stand in their Divinely protected magic forest, surrounded by God's angels and present their own Much-Talked-About-But-Never-Glimpsed Health Care Plan.

Or not.

Full article here: http://whateyethynk-politics.blogspot.com/2014/07/obamacare-last-republican-hurrah.html