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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
A Federal judge in Texas just struck down the Affordable Care Act, declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional and bringing down the entire bill with it because it was a core aspect.
Hopefully the Democratic states keep fighting this as far as they can, along with massive protests.
Edited by Rationalinsanity on Dec 14th 2018 at 10:23:50 AM
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
She/her
Apparently the decision is so bad that conservative court watchers are saying it should be immediately appealed to the Fifth Circuit (a conservative court) and reversed. The decision is THAT baseless and stupid.
Wasn't the individual mandate removed in last year's tax cuts?
Figure of Hourai
It was set to 0$, yet is still in the law.
Also, fuck that guy and may he find himself shunned by every living entity so that he only has rocks for company.
Notably, even the Republicans bringing the suits (and the White House) were arguing that the individual mandate was distinct and severable from the rest of the law, so this one idiot is apparently alone in thinking that a fine of 0 value is sufficient to declare the entire thing unconstitutional.
Edited by RainehDaze on Dec 14th 2018 at 2:34:18 PM
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The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Hey now, rocks deserve better than being stuck with scum like him. At least give them a choice in the matter.
Edited by MarqFJA on Dec 14th 2018 at 5:33:53 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Deranged X-Mas Figure
Hopefully this means it can be reversed ASAP.
Call me Stick
We have a trope for that, actually.
She/Her Pronouns
...Sometimes I forget these forums are situated on the same website as the tropes pages! ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
With regards to the secret hearing, as stated in the article these appear to be in relation to subpoenas and other such matters rather than an actual trial. My best guess is that they are kept secret due to being related to conspiracies or other such activities where, if given advanced warning other suspect parties will start destroying evidence. So on that front I have no issue with the proceedings being kept secret since this isn't an actual trial, I just hope the secrecy gets lifted when arrests are made.
I have the Conspiracy Theory that Mueller fully intends just to wait out the clock with two years of gathering evidence, going after associates, and so on until Trump is out of office.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
And Republicans complain about liberal activist judges... How much longer is this game of trying to repeal Obamacare through any nonsensical means going to last, when the Supreme Court already upheld it?
Edited by Grafite on Dec 15th 2018 at 10:40:39 AM
Life is unfair...
Disasturbator
It will last until Judgement day universal healthcare is added to the constitution
Quoting 'The Lorax,' Court Pulls Permit For Pipeline Crossing Appalachian Trail
In a decision filed Thursday by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., a three-judge panel declared the U.S. Forest Service "abdicated its responsibility to preserve national forest resources" when it issued permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to build through parts of the George Washington and Monongahela National Forests and a right of way across the Appalachian Trail.
"This conclusion," they wrote in a unanimous judgment, "is particularly informed by the Forest Service's serious environmental concerns that were suddenly, and mysteriously, assuaged in time to meet a private pipeline company's deadlines."
The judges cited Dr. Seuss' The Lorax: "We trust the United States Forest Service to 'speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.'"
The court concluded that the Forest Service's decisions violated both the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, and found the Forest Service lacked the authority to grant the pipeline a right of way across the Appalachian Trail
And with the ACA ruling, the fact that the tax is now $0 is explicitly why the Judge ruled it unconstitutional - you can't have a tax of $0, and since the Individual Mandate is expressly part of how the ACA works, QED the entire bill is now unconstitutional.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
From the PDF on The Hill:
Resolution of these claims rests at the intersection of the ACA, the Supreme Court’s decision in NFIB, and the TCJA. In NFIB, the Supreme Court held the Individual Mandate was unconstitutional under the Interstate Commerce Clause but could fairly be read as an exercise of Congress’s Tax Power because it triggered a tax. The TCJA eliminated that tax. The Supreme Court’s reasoning in NFIB — buttressed by other binding precedent and plain text — thus compels the conclusion that the Individual Mandate may no longer be upheld under the Tax Power. And because the Individual Mandate continues to mandate the purchase of health insurance, it remains unsustainable under the Interstate Commerce Clause — as the Supreme Court already held.
Edited by ironballs16 on Dec 15th 2018 at 9:20:16 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Figure of Hourai
What stupid part of the constitution leads to that outcome?
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Tucker Carlson Loses Pacific Life Ads After Remarking Immigration Making U.S. “Dirtier”
Wow. Just... wow. I know I should be numb to this kind of thing by this point, but it's still sickening that this kind of crap is said on TV.
Edited by speedyboris on Dec 15th 2018 at 8:11:03 AM
A Reuters notification:
"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to leave administration at the end of the year, President Trump says in tweet" - Get updates at Reuters.com
And one hell of a Never My Fault from Fox News itself.
"It is a shame that left wing advocacy groups, under the guise of being supposed 'media watchdogs' weaponize social media against companies in an effort to stifle free speech. We continue to stand by and work with our advertisers through these unfortunate and unnecessary distractions," the statement said.
Megaeliz should be happy. As for Obamacare, from what I can tell, it's easy to point out the flaw in the logic of that judge: if the individual mandate is no longer a tax, then that needs to go, it doesn't say anything on the constitutionality of the rest of the law.
Edited by Grafite on Dec 15th 2018 at 3:21:58 PM
Life is unfair...
who will be his replacement though?
You Fox News guys do know that the company chose to distance themselves from you of their own free will right?
It's despicable when companies have the freedom to act against conservative interests that champion companies having freedom.
Sort of, "Everyone is too sensitive and special snowflake-like. Which is why I hate anyone who says anything I disagree with."
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 15th 2018 at 7:24:58 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Man, between the US Constitution being...dated (to say the least), Republicans being evil fucks, and the fact that judges throughout America are politicized hacks who will use any loophole to advance their agenda; the ACA getting struck down was inevitable.
Evil Only Has to Win Once, writ large.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Figure of Hourai
The most baffling thing is that it's somehow constitutionally invalid to have a tax on the books that comes to 0.
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Frankly, as long as Mueller does his job well, I'm not going to complain. Secret hearings or not.
I hold the secrets of the machine.