Barker's Newsbites: Wedneday, March 28, 2012

I wish I could buy all the happy talk about yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court hearing on ObamaCare.

Here's the deal: Four members of the U.S. Supreme Court simply don't care what the Constitution of the United States says, let alone what our Founders and various Amendment writers and approvers meant.

Four members of the U.S. Supreme Court - Ginsberg, Breyer, Sotomayer, and Kegan - routinely put ideology above sincere Constitional adherence to when it comes to their rulings. They believe that America is a nation of men (and women), not laws, and that the Constitution is what they say it is at any particular point in time rather than the ultimate Rule of Law to be obeyed or changed via legal means... by which I mean the Constitutional Amendment process.

The fact that by and large this reality is simply "accepted" by most in the legal community, by most members of the Executive and Legislative branches, and most members of the citizenry as a whole, should serve to demonstrate why I constantly remark that the American Republic under the Rule of Law is dead.

Justice Kennedy...? The so-called swing vote? Regardless of what the logic of his questioning yesterday seemed to preview, he - like the "Court liberals" - has a history of ignoring the plain words and evident meaning of the Constitution when it suits his purposes.

I'll be honest with you, folks... the only Justice who I count as a sure vote against ObamaCare strictly based upon knowing the man reveres the Constitution above all else is Justice Thomas.

Scalia? Yes. I'm 95% confident that he'll vote to overturn ObamaCare, but you must understand... unlike Thomas, Scalia reveres the Constitution with an asterisk; Scalia believes if precedent is old enough and strong enough, it alone "changes" the Constitution and "over-writes" Original Intent.

Alito? I'm 98% confident he'll vote to overturn ObamaCare.

Roberts...? Let's say 90%.

If ObamaCare is not overturned... or even if the individual mandate is ruled unconstitutional yet the rest of ObamaCare is not struck down (as it technically "must" be since Congress didn't insert a severability clause into the legislation)... then America ceases to possess any true claim to retain the title of "Constitutional Republic."

Pray with me, friends.

Pray with me that at least five out of the nine men and women who sit upon the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States abide by their oaths and rule according to their sincere understanding of the Constitution rather than ruling on illegitimate "pragmatic" grounds that "just happen" to match their own personal policy preferences.