If you listen to the Democrats try to convince Americans not to support Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court, one of their main arguments is that she will be the deciding vote to kill the Affordable Care Act (hereinafter Obamacare).
Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii just told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that Republicans “want to push this person through, to steal yet another Supreme Court seat to vote down the Affordable Care Act.”
That’s typical Democrat politics — in other words, a bald-faced lie. Here’s why:
Of course, no one knows how Barrett or anyone else would vote on the actual case, but we can surmise the outcome based on judicial philosophy and previous votes.
The late Ruth Bader Ginsburg would have supported Obamacare because she liked the outcome. The other two current women Justices — Sotomayor and Kagan — are also virtual locks to support Obamacare, as is Justice Breyer. That means if Justice Ginsburg we’re still alive, the liberals would still need a fifth vote to support Obamacare.
That fifth vote was expected to come from Chief Justice Roberts, who although appointed by a Republican has frequently voted with the liberals in important cases. It was Roberts who wrote the majority opinion defending Obamacare in the first place, and it is likely Roberts would have preserved Obamacare again in the upcoming case, California v. Texas.
But with Ginsburg gone, the almost certain split on the 8-member bench would have been 4-4 since the four true conservatives — Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh — would likely have ruled against Obamacare. A tie vote by rule upholds the lower court ruling, and in this case would have overturned Obamacare.
Therefore, Obamacare was already doomed when Ginsburg died. There was no chance a Joe Biden nominee (should be even win the presidential election) would have been confirmed before the high court hears the Obamacare case in November.
The only honest way to talk about Barrett’s appointment is to note that if she is confirmed by the Senate in time to hear the Obamacare appeal, she adds one more potential vote IN FAVOR of Obamacare and thus gives the liberals at least a shot at victory. A long shot, to be sure, but a real shot, which they never would have Ginsburg’s seat were left vacant till the next presidential inauguration.
And if Barrett votes against Obamacare , it would have had the same effect as if she were not there at all.
Please, Democrats, either learn how the court works or recuse yourselves from voting on Supreme Court nominees altogether. You are just embarrassing yourselves.
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