Amidst the blizzard of scandals, lies, corruption and incompetence swirling about the woeful Obama administration, it's always heartening to learn of good news. This week, the great news came in the form of three unanimous U.S. Supreme Court rulings -- one striking down President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, one prohibiting authorities from being able to look through people's smart phones without a warrant; the third slapping down restrictions on abortion protesters. More on these shortly, but first let's consider some context.
Two years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the bogus cornerstone of Obamacare -- the individual mandate -- by stretching logic to declare the mandate a tax. However, in the same opinion, SCOTUS ruled the federal government could not require states to participate in the expansion of Medicaid by threatening them with the loss of existing federal payments should they not go along. SCOTUS also rejected the administration's argument that the mandate falls under the Constitution's commerce clause. In other words, Congress can regulate existing interstate commercial activity, but it can't directly force people to enter into a market such as health insurance. These two restrictions were a silver lining to a dark cloud.
In January I wrote about how the courts were pushing back against some of the administration's overreaching dictates. One example was Justice Sonya Sotomayor’s issuance of a stay prohibiting faith-based nonprofit groups including the Little Sisters of the Poor and Christian Brothers Employee Benefit Trust from having to comply with Obamacare's mandate on providing contraceptives and abortifacients in health care plans.
Any day now, SCOTUS is set to rule on the ‘Hobby Lobby’ case – whether Uncle Sam can compel private businesses to cover abortion and/or contraceptives in their employee health plans even if the business owners are opposed based on religious beliefs. Based on this week’s good news, I am optimistic about the outcome.
On Wednesday I was somewhat astounded to learn the court had voted unanimously, 9-0, to restrict police from searching cell phones unless they’ve obtained a warrant. It seems that when it comes to civil rights, sometimes far left liberals and far right conservatives or libertarians share ample common ground. It’s as if the hypothetical ideological spectrum is a circle rather than a straight line: Eventually left becomes right and vice versa, just as traveling west for thousands of miles eventually will land you in the “Far East.” This ruling would seem to fly in the face of the administration's surveillance state M.O. (i.e., NSA domestic spying, IRS monitoring of political activity and subsequent abuse of its power to exact retribution on political opponents).
On Thursday, SCOTUS rejected three appointments Obama made to the National Labor Relations Board in January 2012. The president maintained that these were recess appointments, but in fact the U.S. Senate was on a three-day break from official (pro forma) proceedings but had not gaveled adjournment. So they were not recess appointments. This ruling will, to use a favorite phrase of liberals, have a "chilling effect" on the O-man's plans to rule by executive fiat with his pen and his phone.
In this week's other key ruling, SCOTUS unanimously struck down the 35-foot protest-free zone outside abortion clinics in Massachusetts, declaring it an unconstitutional restraint on the free-speech rights of protestors. While this was not push-back against Obama, per se, it certainly was a slap in the face to the president and all others who despise anti-abortion protestors and have no qualms about shredding the First Amendment to keep the abortion mills plowing ahead with their butchery.
It has been clear for years now that Democrat leaders in the Senate and House, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, are gladly and supinely letting the executive branch walk all over the legislative branch’s powers and authority. But thank God, it appears the liberals on the Supreme Court believe more firmly in the separation of powers and the dangers posed by a central concentration of power -- in the executive branch or anywhere else -- than they do in the progressive agenda.
Barack Obama has shown himself to be drunk on power; a man whose arrogance and conceit know no bounds. His antics have angered some Democrat lawmakers who face difficult re-election prospects this fall but dare not speak out against Reid and Pelosi to say nothing of Obama himself.
Thankfully, it appears the liberal wing of SCOTUS is increasingly refusing to allow Obama’s corruption and megalomania to continue.
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