The News at Court

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The word coming from those observing the Supreme Court proceedings yesterday is that the Solicitor General faced tough questioning from an unsympathetic-sounding Conservative side of the bench. Clarence Thomas as always had nothing to contribute. Much attention was focused on the questions of Anthony Kennedy, widely thought to be the swing vote on a divided decision. His comments suggested that he may not be convinced that the individual mandate is within the powers of Congress in this instance. Roberts, Alito and Scalia adopted similar skepticism. Recorded sounds bites underscore that perception.

Disheartened friends of the Health Reform measure also point to a stumbling performance by the Solicitor General pleading the Administration’s case. Justice Ginsburg at one point came to his assistance. Pro-reform advocates who seemed so confident 24 hours earlier were less so last night, surveying their various sites. Similarly charges that the other side once proposed mandates themselves carries no sway in the current matter before the judges.

Some veteran observers are cautioning that one cannot predict the outcome from the questioning in court. There is a certain amount of theater on the justices side in all this, they caution. Though this is a court not afraid to appear political at times, they know that their decision either way could have consequences for them as an entity in the future. I doubt Obama would try to pack the court as Franklin Roosevelt did in 1937, frustrated when ultra-conservatives kept undermining New Deal recovery measures.

Poll outcomes are being thrown around by reporters from both sides. What they disclose is that the public does not favor being forced to buy health insurance, but they do favor the benefits they get from wider access. This should come as no surprise to students of human nature. It should remind the press that polls of this kind have limited importance in times of strife. Pain cannot always be avoided in achieving goals. You need to give to get.

Whatever the outcome, the ultimate responsibility for further reform efforts rests with the American people, who go to the polls this November. Should they reward Reactionary elements who fold their hands and say ‘no’ to solving the medical cost problems before us, or should they reward those on both sides of the aisle who are ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work on the Health Care Crisis in the US that affects us all? It has serious implications for American families. Job creation without health insurance as a benefit is only a partial solution. Tax breaks for folks like the hedge fund managers who bought the Dodgers yesterday for 2 billion dollars benefits but a few. Passing additional cost increases onto the individual or employers already strapped with paying for coverage, as Paul Ryan suggests, is a cheat that should be quickly exposed. We need honest answers to pressing problems, not the courtly poses currently passing as politics-as-usual along the campaign trail and in the drawing rooms of Washington.

Tom Godfrey

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