How an Inaccurate Soundbite Might Take Down Obamacare

[teflepi]

The Supreme Court is about to decide another blockbuster case arising under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The specific issue is whether federal-tax subsidies are available to people who purchase health insurance from exchanges operated by the federal government or instead whether such subsidies are available only from exchanges established by the states. A decision in favor of the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell would most likely cripple the ACA in over thirty states and deprive millions of people of health insurance.

That the Supreme Court even agreed to hear the case is the result of an improbable conjunction of events. Two committed opponents of the ACA seized upon four words of the law out of almost 1000 pages, and through their persistent and energetic work, created a powerful soundbite that appealed to die-hard opponents of the ACA. They then took that sound bite and dressed it up in highly technical arguments about statutory interpretation that might well change how healthcare is paid for in the United States. But the soundbite is inaccurate, and the technical window dressing shouldn’t obscure the fact that the argument is based on a faulty reading of the text of the entire law as well as a misleading account of how and why the law was passed. At bottom, King v. Burwell is a political challenge to the ACA dressed up in legal garb.

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/the-soundbite-strategy-in-king-v-burwell/394328/

[ESF]

This is excellent. But you left out the best part!

Professor Adler is a statutory interpretation expert and thus quite familiar with these rules. Perhaps this is why he has stated unequivocally, from the beginning, that the plain text of the law precludes subsidies on federal exchanges. But, as the above discussion makes clear, the text not only does not prohibit such subsidies, it rather obviously authorizes them. For the government to prevail, that interpretation does not even need to be the sole way of reading the statute. It only has to be a reasonable understanding. And there is no serious legal argument that it is not.

That’s a conclusion I reached on the merits. My involvement with the legal issues in this case did not stem from a personal agenda. I am not a health policy expert, and I am agnostic as a matter of policy about the ACA. I first approached the casenot knowing what I would find.

What I am is a long-standing critic of the Supreme Court of the United States. I am on the record many times over arguing that the Court is indifferent to legal doctrine when making decisions in hard cases. But, as The New York Times’ Linda Greenhouse has written, King is different than most cases the Court hears. The legal issues so strongly favor the government that a decision for the plaintiffs would be seen by many as naked and partisan politics. Greenhouse even suggested that the very legitimacy of the Court is at stake. Jeffrey Toobin has also weighed in and said the plaintiffs’ case “borders on the frivolous.”

[teflepi]

Weird. I hit 'reader' and just the 2 paragraphs popped up. Thanks!

[aurora]

May 30, 2015 10:19:05 GMT -5 ESF said:

...
What I am is a long-standing critic of the Supreme Court of the United States. I am on the record many times over arguing that the Court is indifferent to legal doctrine when making decisions in hard cases. But, as The New York Times’ Linda Greenhouse has written, King is different than most cases the Court hears. The legal issues so strongly favor the government that a decision for the plaintiffs would be seen by many as naked and partisan politics. Greenhouse even suggested that the very legitimacy of the Court is at stake. Jeffrey Toobin has also weighed in and said the plaintiffs’ case “borders on the frivolous.”

How can a court be indifferent to legal doctrine?

And what would it mean, practically, if SCOTUS was "proven" illegitimate via a decision for the plaintiffs here? I mean, they're still the ultimate decision-making body.

(It's been 20 years since I took Government)