Weekly Round-Up for June 29th

OK. Take a deep breath:

Healthcare


First, the opinion in its entirety.

And explained in one paragraph, from the Atlantic: The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional. There were not five votes to uphold it on the ground that Congress could use its power to regulate commerce between the states to require everyone to buy health insurance. However, five Justices agreed that the penalty that someone must pay if he refuses to buy insurance is a kind of tax that Congress can impose using its taxing power. That is all that matters. Because the mandate survives, the Court did not need to decide what other parts of the statute were constitutional, except for a provision that required states to comply with new eligibility requirements for Medicaid or risk losing their funding. On that question, the Court held that the provision is constitutional as long as states would only lose new funds if they didn't comply with the new requirements, rather than all of their funding.


Slate has an estimated 4,127 articles up on yesterdays ACA decision. Fortunately, it has them all linked from this one helpful page. 

Adam Liptak at the Times praises Roberts deft political hand. 

So does Ezra Klein at the Washington Post. 

Others report that states might have a tough time meeting ACA deadlines.

At Salon, Bernstein says this means it's time for liberals to stop saying the Court needs "fixing."

But Paul Campus says this is evidence of a broken system. 

And Andrew Koppelman argues that Kennedy joined the radicals.

Robert Reich's take. 

Alex Seitz-Waltz wonders if it was, in fact, a conservative victory. 

Joan Walsh weighs in on the "BFD". 

Even the Chronicle of Higher Education gets in on the game, telling us that medical students and teaching hospitals applaud the Court's decision. 

Michele Goodwin (also at the Chronicle) says Roberts interrupted politics as usual, but that hard questions remain. 

At The Atlantic, Daniel Epps says Roberts scored a coux a al Marbury v Madison. 

The Atlantic also gives us a handy guide to the spin on the ACA. 

Other Stuff that ALSO Happened


The New York Times reports on the Court's decision to strike down the Stolen Valor Act. (And here's an old Slate piece explaining the case.)


The House held AG Eric Holder in contempt.

The Atlantic reports the same. 

Jack Balkin, Walter Dellinger, Dahlia Lithwick, and Judge Richard Posner exchange emails on the state of the law and the constitution. (Note: Posner is about two emails from being challenged to a dual by Scalia)

Eric Posner on the SCOTUS ruling in Arizona. 

Salon also weighs in on that decision. 

Michael Myerson writes about the constitution and the protection of religious freedom. 

Salon wonders why Republicans in Iowa aren't making a bigger deal out of gay marriage. 

And why old conservatives are dying to tell you that they love Bruce Springsteen.