In a move some are describing as pure confidence, the Obama Administration has allowed the September 25th deadline to pass without filing their appeal to the 11th Circuit Court, in the ongoing battle by Republicans to repeal the President’s Health Care Law. Republicans have claimed that the individual mandate in the law is “unconstitutional.”
Former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger, who supports the law, told Politico that this move to allow the case to be heard now by the Supreme Court, “confirms what I had already concluded: That the government is confident that it’s going to prevail in the Supreme Court and would like to have a decision sooner rather than later.”
But opponents to the law are looking at this decision differently. Randy E. Barnett, a Georgetown Law professor who is working with the plaintiffs, credits the President for not delaying the case anymore and for sending it to the Supreme Court for their decision in what he refers to as a “constitutional controversy.”
Politico Reports:
The issue of the constitutionality of the individual mandate has been widely expected to be decided by the Supreme Court. The key question has been the timing. The Justice Department’s apparent decision to ask the Supreme Court to review the case greatly increases the chances the issue will be heard in the 2011-12 term, which begins Monday.
The Supreme Court now has several strong reasons to accept the case. The court rarely declines requests from the government to take a case, especially in situations in which a circuit court has struck down a piece of a high-profile law.
The current political make-up of the Supreme Court is 5 to 4 in favor of the Republicans/Conservatives. In a perfect world, one would expect these justices to strictly adhere to the rule of law and judicial precedent. But this particular court is an activist court, implementing decisions that benefit their political party’s ideology over the rule of law.
Expect justice to eventually prevail, but with the current political occupants of this Court, justice will be delayed then detoured until the new occupants move in.
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