I turn to the op-ed of the Times religiously every Tuesday and Friday to read the latest words of wisdom from Paul Krugman. But today, I was aghast. Paul Krugman was wrong!
Well not all wrong, but really wrong about one thing. His column is about health care politics. He refers to the Trump administration’s argument before the Supreme Court that the ACA (Obamacare) is unconstitutional, for a silly reason that I won’t go in to. He says:
Clearly, this case is headed for the Supreme Court. But Trump doesn’t want it heard until after the election.
Why does Trump want to leave this court case hanging? Partly because his side would probably lose. As I said, the lawsuit is ludicrous, although, given the partisanship of Republican-appointed judges, it might prevail anyway. (Emphasis added)
The language I’ve emphasized is dead wrong. They want to leave the case hanging because they are afraid they might win, which they’d love to do after the election when the voters cannot wreak vengeance on them, but not right now, thank you very much.
It is worth noting here that the courts at all levels have been slow walking a number of cases that either should be decided quickly due to their critical importance (e.g., cases involving refusal of the executive to honor Congressional subpoenas or to block witnesses from testifying) and/or should be slam dunks based on past precedent which is unfavorable to the genius’s position (e.g., cases involving refusal of the executive to honor Congressional subpoenas or to block witnesses from testifying) They are doing so for political reasons pure and simple. There is every reason to believe that the Supreme Court is slow walking the health care case in order to drop a decision after the election. That way they avoid embarrassing the genius if they rule against him, though this is a minimal problem, as an adverse decision would likely be forgotten the next day. More critically, if it goes in his favor, people will be faced with the loss of their health care during an election campaign due to the genius and the judges he appointed. That won’t sit well with the voters. Better to wait until the electoral die is cast.
I forgive Paul for being wrong. After all, we all make mistakes.
UPDATE: Looks like Kavanaugh and Gorsuch have the votes to kill Obamacare. The decision was just put off until after the election.
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