In upholding Obamacare as a tax, the Supreme Court, led by the politically astute Chief Justice Roberts, took the safest route around a thorny issue. Both sides, arguably, got something they want. The chief justice strongly endorsed the argument that Congress is not allowed to compel people into commerce in order to regulate them under the Commerce Clause. President Obama and his supporters get to claim victory too. The end result, however, is the same. It makes no difference whether it is under the taxing power or the commerce power, Congress can now compel non-purchasers to become purchasers.
4:50 PM 02/22/2012
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Fisher v. University of Texas, a new challenge to the use of affirmative action in university admission policies. The case, which will be argued in October, may finally end the racially based admission policies that universities have used for decades to achieve “diversity” in their student bodies. Diversity, as used by university officials, is neither conceptually coherent enough nor constitutionally compelling enough to justify explicit racial classification.
2:25 PM 03/21/2011
Public broadcasting must be defunded, but not because of partisan bias. The recent Daily Caller video of NPR executives saying “appalling” things to undercover agents was yet another attempt to demonstrate NPR’s liberal bias. Trying to conclusively pin down the direction of NPR’s bias, however, misses the point. It is irrelevant which way public broadcasting “tilts.” What matters is that it tilts at all.
