Judge disses Dems' 'Alice in Wonderland' health defense

[The Northerner]

A federal judge in Florida on Thursday said he will allow some of the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care law to proceed — and criticized Democrats for making an “Alice in Wonderland” argument to defend the law.

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson allowed two major counts to proceed: the states’ challenge to the controversial requirement that nearly all Americans buy insurance and a required expansion of the Medicaid program.

In his ruling, Vinson criticized Democrats for seeking to have it both ways when it comes to defending the mandate to buy insurance. During the legislative debate, Republicans chastised the proposal as a new tax on the middle class. Obama defended the payment as a penalty and not a tax, but the Justice Department has argued that legally, it’s a tax.

“Congress should not be permitted to secure and cast politically difficult votes on controversial legislation by deliberately calling something one thing, after which the defenders of that legislation take an “Alice-in-Wonderland” tack and argue in court that Congress really meant something else entirely, thereby circumventing the safeguard that exists to keep their broad power in check,” he wrote.

Vinson ruled that it’s a penalty, not a tax, and must be defended under the Commerce Clause and not Congress’s taxing authority.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43626.html#ixzz12NKWsGm5

[DCKit]

1. At least the judge sounds as if he's got two brain cells to rub together...

unlike some of the Supremes.

[tritsofme]

2. Not surprised the judge didn't go for this.

The lawsuit will still fail since the mandate is a legitimate use of the commerce clause, but that was a pretty strange argument for the DOJ to make.

[Uncle Joe]

5. I don't believe it's a legitimate use of the commerce clause and I don't believe the DOJ believes

it either, that's why they tried to argue it as being a tax.

[jaxx]

3. A Reagan appointee showing his conservative roots.

I wonder if the pubs had done this he'd have ruled differently.

[spanone]

4. sounds like one of the damned activist judges to me...where the right's uproar?

[PROchoiceGA]

6. This will end up at the Supreme court... n/t

[glinda]

7. And you know who they are. A pile of Constitutionalists.

[bemildred]

8. Dang, who knew that the Congress would lie and dissemble about what they were doing? nt

[RC]

9. If they would have gone for and passed Single Payer, Universal Health Care,

It would have been a done deal and we would have joined the rest of the civilized nations in caring for their own people.

[Recursion]

11. Except single payer is a mandate squared.

Cubed. To the umpteenth power.

[Major Hogwash]

12. Why would we do something like that, we're Americuns.

Hell, we don't do anything the way other countries do it.
That's whut makes us better than anyone else.
Shit, we lie to start wars, and then look the other way later on and don't even prosecute the fuckers who started those wars.

[girl gone mad]

10. Good news, and this case is definitely not the slam dunk..

proponents of the mandate would like people to believe it is.