How does a proven Conservative Chief Justice land to the Left of Anthony Kennedy?
Intentionally.
When you noodle that through you'll begin to recognize just how significant yesterday was in the political world. John Roberts killed the Commerce Clause and Necessary & Proper Clause as Constitutional Authority and he tee'd up the ball for a challenge that will kill General Welfare and narrow the power to tax for only enumerated purposes, as Jefferson explained was proper. He's already reminded many Governors of the Tenth Amendment and he has forced the politicians to man-up and stop punting on the hard issues. Now the R's will have to do their jobs and Repeal, or not.
Roberts is genuinely working to kill 150+ years of bad Constitutional respect, and he can't do it all in a single vote. Why didn't he rule the tax in ObamaCare invalid and limit General Welfare in this Decision? I am not sure. I am told it was beyond the scope, that SCOTUS really needs a General Welfare challenge in order to go that far. We'll see. I think he could have done it cleanly right now.
But if you take the position that the Holder vote was a "Victory" and the SCOTUS ruling was a "Defeat", I'll let all of this marinate for a while so you can catch up. Start with this piece and just let your brain mull it over for a while.
Remember, SCOTUS only has as much real power as the other branches and the voters choose to permit. I hold their machinations have zero power over the Executive and Legislative, but both branches allow the facade to provide the illusion of Legitimacy.
Now, in a properly functioning FedGov, the Branches would respect one another and the boundaries of the Constitution. But we are not there.
TL has a piece on the topic, here.
Remember: None of this will change our course or speed to our imminent crater. Nothing SCOTUS could have done yesterday could change that trajectory. It is political theatre...and I enjoy clever, brutal politics as diversion when I know reality will intrude soon.
Anyway, on to something important: Almost all remaining III Gear orders will ship today or tomorrow (many shipped earlier this week). The only omission is shirts. As I explained earlier this week, I bombed the shirt printer with a substantial and complicated order, and they are working their way through it.
I'll have an announcement a little later this morning for a III raffle. We have several very cool raffles in the queue.
Kerodin
III
