Political Quotes

“Mr. President, regarding yesterday's Supreme Court decision, there have been a variety of very interesting editorials, op-ed pieces, and blogs--many of them erudite and very useful for the analysis of the Court's opinion. Of course, it will take a long time for us to know precisely how all of this will work out over time. I thought I might refer to a couple of these opinions and op-eds and put them in the Record for people to see what a sampling might look like so they can more thoroughly analyze the opinion and then pose a question at the end. I start with one of my friends, and I think one of the best columnists, even nationally, that I know. He writes for my local paper, the Arizona Republic. His name is Bob Robb, and he writes in his column on June 29: Roberts' decision controlled the outcome, even though it was fully joined by no other justice. Here's what he concluded: The federal government has no power under the Constitution's Commerce Clause to require individuals to purchase health insurance, as Obamacare does. However, the federal government does have the power to impose a financial penalty on people for not complying with the mandate the federal government has no authority to impose. That's because the penalty is actually a tax under Congress' constitutional taxing authority. However, the penalty is not a tax for purposes of the Anti- Injunction Act, which would preclude the court from considering the legality until someone actually pays it. Obviously, Mr.…”