The End To The Obamacare Wars | SCOTUS Power Rankings, Who Is In Charge Now?
June 18, 2021
IT'S OVER, IT'S OVER
|David Lauter with the Los Angeles Times notes in the Essential Politics newsletter that thanks to SCOTUS the Obamacare wars have come to an end. Republicans are now waving a white flag. “The most telling response to the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision upholding the Affordable Care Act came Thursday from House Republican leader REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY. Along with his two top colleagues in the GOP leadership, the Republican from Bakersfield issued a statement that served up standard talking points about the healthcare law’s shortcomings. He also expressed opposition to the efforts by progressive Democrats to create a single-payer healthcare system. What he notably did not do is repeat the once-standard Republican promise to ‘repeal and replace’ Obamacare.”
WE'RE IN CHARGE NOW
|Joan Biskupic with CNN notes, “CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS, along with JUSTICES AMY CONEY BARRETT and BRETT KAVANAUGH, demonstrated their collective power at America’s highest court on Thursday. They fueled the Supreme Court’s limited opinions on Obamacare and religious liberty, in action that marks a twist for the conservative-dominated bench and adds to the suspense of the next two weeks as the court finishes its annual term.” Biskupic explains that a pattern has emerged where Roberts, Kavanaugh and Barrett are landing at the center-right, keeping their more conservative colleagues in check. “The trio were part of majorities that rejected yet another challenge to the 2010 Affordable Care Act and took only a small step — over complaints from other conservatives — in favor of religious entities that would discriminate against LGBTQ individuals.”
NOT CLOSE ENOUGH
|In addition to its blockbuster decisions regarding the Affordable Care Act and religious liberty, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in favor of two American corporations accused of complicity in child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms. Adam Liptak with The New York Times reports, “The decision was the latest in a series of rulings imposing strict limits on lawsuits brought in federal court based on human rights abuses abroad. The case was brought by six citizens of Mali who said they were trafficked into slavery as children. They sued Nestlé USA and Cargill, saying the firms had aided and profited from the practice of forced child labor. JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS, writing for an eight-member majority, said the companies’ activities in the United States were not sufficiently tied to the asserted abuses.”
ONE DOOR CLOSES
|“Technically, the Supreme Court’s Thursday decision in Nestle v. Doe is a loss for human rights enforcement in the United States. The court ruled unanimously against six former child slaves who sued two major corporations for allegedly aiding and abetting their enslavement. That outcome is no surprise. What is shocking is that the defendants failed to persuade the court to immunize all corporations from lawsuits under the Alien Tort Statute.” That’s Mark Joseph Stern with Slate noting that while the Nestle case might seem like a victory for corporate America, it could open the door to future litigation against “corrupt, abusive, and lawless businesses.”
SCOTUS VIEWS
'Hopelessly Divided' Supreme Court Defies Narrative With Another Unanimous Opinion
USA Today“The Supreme Court has finally handed down two of the five ‘blockbuster’ opinions of this term with rulings on the Affordable Care Act and religious rights. The most striking aspect of the decisions was the absence of ideological divisions. Indeed, the case on religious rights is yet another unanimous decision from a Court that President Joe Biden has declared ‘out of whack’ and Democratic leaders have declared hopelessly divided along ideological lines. This week represented the final collapse of the false narrative that has been endlessly repeated like a mantra in Congress and the media.”
Why The Supreme Court Should Reset The Terms Of The Abortion Debate
The New York Times“With Dobbs, the Supreme Court has a chance to reopen this question for a country that remains divided. There’s no obvious compromise on the horizon, but that is the condition of a pluralistic nation with divides on values. Roe’s viability framework isn’t an answer to these questions. It’s an obstacle to debating them.”
One Cheer For The Supreme Court On Religious Liberty
The Wall Street Journal“The good news is that no Justice took Philadelphia’s side. But it’s hard not to read the court’s narrow opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, as another example of his mode of seeking consensus by watering down principle. He wants to win over liberal justices and he is reluctant to take the heat from overturning even dubious precedents. But the cost is less protection for religious belief that is increasingly under siege by the state.”