"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Monday, June 25, 2012

No Obamacare Ruling Today!

The Supreme Court kicked the Obamacare decision further down the road (until Thursday at the latest).  

The Court upheld the Ninth Circuit's ruling invalidating most of Arizona's immigration enforcement law, permitting only Arizona police officers from checking the immigration status of individuals they've stopped. All the rest was pre-empted by federal immigration law, including state laws criminalizing being an illegal.  Probably the right decision, although states on the border witih Mexico have a right to be frustrated by the federal government's poor efforts at immigration enforcement.

The decision in Arizona included Kennedy and Roberts in the majority, with Sotomayor, Breyer and Ginzberg.   Scalia, Thomas and Alito dissented.   Tea leaves suggest a muddled decision on Obamacare at best, if not out-and-out affirming, with Kennedy providing the fifth vote, and Roberts possibly joining in part.   We'll see.

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