Outside the Supreme Court |
March
26,
2012--On
the
first day
of oral arguments on the Affordable Care Act at the U.S. Supreme Court,
supporters of the law dominated the scene outside. (Opponents
rallied
on Saturday and plan another rally on Tuesday). There were a
number of
opponents of Obamacare making the case against the law, most notably
members of the Tea Party Patriots, including Mary Beth Martin.
Others
included Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, who
said of the debate that, "It's more about government and the power of
government than it is about health care." Tanner said the law
raises
the question, "Is there anything the government can't make you do?" |
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Michael Tanner, senior fellow at
the Cato Institute (at right) with Meaghan Leister manager of broadcast
outreach, and Jamie Morris, media relations coordinator.
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Curt Levey, executive director
of the Committee for Justice, brought four boxes of petitions. He
said his group had gathered 100,000 petitions, most of which it
delivered to the Supreme Court's off-site location. The Committee
for Justice is a group that seeks to promote "the rule of law and a
constitutionalist judiciary;" it was formed in 2002 to counter
obstruction of Bush judicial appointees.
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About ten minutes before noon a
group of the state attorneys general opposing the Act, led by Pam Bondi
of Florida and Mike DeWine of Ohio, emerged from the Supreme
Court. Twenty six states are challenging the law (+). A major focus
today was the question of jurisdiction. There was a fair bit of
back and forth over the whether the Act imposes a tax or a
penalty. Several of the AGs pointed to an exchange between
Justice Alito and Soliciter General Verrilli, in which Alito said,
"Today you are arguing that the penalty is not a tax. Tomorrow
you are going to be back and you will be arguing that the penalty is a
tax." (+)
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