Supreme Court Healthcare Ruling

As this will be my first post, I would like to set the basic premise of this blog. I am a well educated and well read American hoping to find clarity in the midst of a whirlwind of media and political messages. The views expressed are my own and may contain bias based on my life and what I have seen. I choose to remain as anonymous as I can to prevent any negative backlash. I will research and study any topics if requested (please be polite or I will ignore you). And now, on the first post.

For this post, I have chosen to talk about the Supreme Court's recent ruling on President Obama's chief domestic policy, healthcare. Many republicans and conservatives were shocked to see Chief Justice John Roberts join the court's more liberal wing in this ruling. Roberts has long been considered a conservative justice with Anthony Kennedy as the courts lone moderate. However, in this case he went against the grain of his fellow conservative justices.

This was not only a conservative move by the Chief Justice, it was brilliant. He effectively ended the notion that Congress could compel people to buy a product. This was found to be unconstitutional. The mandate was only upheld because it was a tax and not a fee (despite what some may say, this is a tax under the eyes of the law). Only as a tax was this law upheld. It has forever granted that Congress has no power to compel the purchase of any item. Furthermore, the Chief Justice limited the punitive power of the federal government against the states. He sided with the states that choose not to participate by protecting them from losing current funding. States rights and economic choice are both conservative values that the Chief Justice has upheld. In calling this a tax, states were protected and economic liberty was retained. Conservatives may be fuming over an apparent defection by Chief Justice Roberts, but it was by this that he ensured the federal government didn't overreach and violate states rights as given by the 10th amendment.

So, while some may disagree with this ruling, it should be apparent that the Chief Justice put politics aside and stuck to the Constitution of the United States of America. He should be commended for his even hand in a tough and politically divisive issue. For my next post, I will discuss gains and losses in foreign policy under the current President of the United States.