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George Will writes:

“By persuading the Court to reject a Commerce Clause rationale for a president’s signature act, the conservative legal insurgency against Obamacare has won a huge victory for the long haul. This victory will help revive a venerable tradition of America’s political culture, that of viewing congressional actions with a skeptical constitutional squint, searching for congruence with the Constitution’s architecture of enumerated powers. By rejecting the Commerce Clause rationale, Thursday’s decision reaffirmed the Constitution’s foundational premise: Enumerated powers are necessarily limited because, as Chief Justice John Marshall said, “the enumeration presupposes something not enumerated.”

Funny.

Scalia, Thomas, Alito and even Kennedy didn’t see it that way, but I suppose the Arizona decision in which Roberts gutted SB 1070 is further proof that the situation is really not as bad as it seems.

Does anyone here remember the time that Sandra Day O’Connor signed off on affirmative action for a generation and the media threw laurels at her feet? That’s what happened again this morning.

Note: The funniest reaction column that I have read so far argued that the Supreme Court has affirmative action coming up in its next term and this decision will pave the way to its defeat. Because the votes “look like they are there.”

Yeah, the government can force you to buy health insurance, and it can force the states to submit to a foreign invasion, and it can have your child bused to an integrated public school, and it can get involved in marriage and abortion, but we really still have a constitutional government of “enumerated powers.”

This is a huge victory for “conservatism.”

About Hunter Wallace 12390 Articles
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Occidental Dissent

46 Comments

  1. George Will is the poster child of the Faileo-Conservatives. Ever seeking the bright side, ever confident in the goodness of the Federal Government. What a douche bag. “Skeptical Constitutional squint”, what a laugh!

  2. I chuckled when I saw this earlier today. I don’t think Will believes a word of it. Will is not that stupid. Krauthammer made almost the same argument. It makes me wonder if these conservative pundits coordinate the “spin.”

    The law stands, thus obviating any charge that a partisan court overturned duly passed legislation. And yet at the same time the commerce clause is reined in. By denying that it could justify the imposition of an individual mandate, Roberts draws the line against the inexorable decades-old expansion of congressional power under the commerce clause fig leaf.

    Law upheld, Supreme Court’s reputation for neutrality maintained. Commerce clause contained, constitutional principle of enumerated powers reaffirmed.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-why-roberts-did-it/2012/06/28/gJQA4X0g9V_story.html

  3. So the government can do anything they wish now, but they just can’t use the commerce clause to do it. This is what passes as a victory for George Will.

  4. Under the rules establishing what is a precedent and what is not a precedent in a legal ruling, only those aspects that deliberately were relied on for the decision are considered precedent.

    It is slow to come out, but mere dicta (words that do not steer the outcome of the case) do not establish anything at all. So when the USSC says it didn’t rely on the Commerce Clause, it means that there is no precedent whatsoever established for future Commerce Clause cases.

    It is the narrowest possible legal argument that is a legal decision, not any of the arguments that may have been tossed into the pot. The USSC could as easily said that it did not rule under the First Amendment or the Equal Protection Clause, and it would not make them part of the decision of this case.

    If Krauthammer and Will are promoting the view that the Commerce Clause has been reined in by considering the case under the federal Power to Tax, they are quite literally nutz. And they are lying directly to their readers. No limitation on the Commerce Clause has been established in this case.

  5. Lew: If he doesn’t believe it, why does he write it? If what you say is true, he is indeed an evil propagandist. I just thought he was a true believer.

  6. None of them see what will happen once the taxes are just too high for people to pay.

    “Free” government is an oxymoron.
    There is an end; there is a limit.

    Deo Vindice

  7. Apuleius: My only fear is that the end is slavery.
    This law means rationed health care, since we can never afford it for everyone. And of course, white privilege will have to be accounted for in the rationing.
    I feel totally betrayed….again.

  8. “This law means rationed health care, since we can never afford it for everyone. And of course, white privilege will have to be accounted for in the rationing.”

    You didn’t know that already? Poor man, welcome to BRA.

    As a famous negro once said, “How long? Not long.” That’s the time you have left under BRA. One way or another.

    Deo Vindice

  9. “None of them see what will happen once the taxes are just too high for people to pay.”

    It can never be too high. I mean, why would they need to tax ANYONE, really, when they can simply print money as needed?

  10. “They” think we want and value “health care” much more than our freedom. We must be willing to die young WITHOUT ANY health care if it comes to that, if we want ever to become free! Give us liberty or give us death.

  11. I just got word from local Tea Partiers, who were interviewed on local TV saying “we’ve lost this battle but we WILL win the war,” that they are not giving up. Too bad they’ve been so distracted by the Beckite “support Israel” ruse that they were nearly inactive in practical politics for months last year.

  12. I lost interest in the tea party when the tea party became more obsessed with demonstrating its “we’re not racists” credentials for BRA than with dismantling the tax system that makes BRA possible.

    Like Glenn Beck, the tea party is a joke. And the joke is on you if you’re white.

    The current political system is beyond reform or repair.

    I knew this country was in trouble when, right after 9-11, I saw a bumper sticker on a car with NY tags that said, “Give me liberty or give me nothing at all!” I knew in a flash that not only would Amurrica lose the “war on terror,” but a very large segment of the Amurrican population is completely degenerate. The technical term for these people is “Yankee.”

    Mosin , you are most likely among the last Amurricans who can even remember Patrick Henry, a Virginian who argued against ratifying the constitution because it gave the federal government too much power.

    Deo Vindice

  13. I saw a bumper sticker in San Francisco, on a car with California plates:
    ” US OUT OF NORTH AMERICA”

  14. Apuleius, would you explain further: “I saw a bumper sticker on a car with NY tags that said, “Give me liberty or give me nothing at all!” I knew in a flash that not only would Amurrica lose the “war on terror,” but a very large segment of the Amurrican population is completely degenerate.” That seems an odd way of saying LIBERTY is foundational and valued more than government services, handouts, healthcare, etc., NONE OF WHICH can be substituted or given in exchange for it. So why did it strike you think as a sign of degeneracy?

    Finally, what’s that about losing the “war on terror”?

  15. “So why did it strike you think as a sign of degeneracy?” should have been: “So why did it strike you as a sign of degeneracy?”

  16. I had no idea that George Will was still alive, let alone being presented as an exeptible “Conservative” opinion in the MSM like he was 30 years ago.

  17. Joe, you misunderstood. My comment was directed to Apuleius, so let me repeat it:

    Apuleius, would you explain further: “I saw a bumper sticker on a car with NY tags that said, “Give me liberty or give me nothing at all!” I knew in a flash that not only would Amurrica lose the “war on terror,” but a very large segment of the Amurrican population is completely degenerate.” That seems an odd way of saying LIBERTY is foundational and valued more than government services, handouts, healthcare, etc., NONE OF WHICH can be substituted or given in exchange for it. So why did it strike you as a sign of degeneracy?

    Finally, what’s that about losing the “war on terror”? Are you a believer or participant in, or a direct benefactor of the endless global humanitarian “war on terror,” then?

  18. I can’t jump over shadows– mine or anyone else’s– but I’m quite good at figuring things out– Si or No?

  19. Excellent article today over at “The Thinking Housewife” website:
    ” Why Are You Demoralized?”

  20. It is much worse than you think folks. This Will character for all his wordist precision and intellect must sit across from a bunch of illiterates and agree that they are morally superior if maybe a little confused. That sheet will destroy a man’s soul, and that is what we have leading us, destroyed souls or sociopaths, and maybe a few freaking retards like a Hannity.

  21. Really, gentlemen, it is quite simple.

    Patrick Henry uttered the immortal words, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
    This phrase became a touchstone for generations of Americans. Back when Americans could read and think. Americans who had character.

    Fast forward 200 years to the vapid and uninspiring bumper sticker, “Give me liberty or give me nothing at all.” The phrase cannot be separated from the original utterance by Henry, and is obviously inferior.

    You see, implicit in Henry’s expression is the manly notion of sacrifice, of laying down one’s own life for a higher good. That notion is completely absent from the latter day variant. The present generations have feet of clay.

    This latter day variant is a complete non sequitur. An infantile expression at best, reflecting an extreme passiveness that only befits a country of feminized metrosexual cowardly slobs. In short, a country like our Amurrica that you all seem to love so much. Waiting for a handout like some kind of low nigger trash. Give me, give me, give me…

    So yes, if you think like that, it makes you a degenerate. Your grandfathers were much better men than you will ever be. Maybe some day you will realize that being a coarse jackass is not superior to being a polite and thoughtful person. I doubt it, though, since much of your inspiration appears to come from aping the obnoxious Yankee asshole husband on the inane television cartoon show “Family Guy.”

    Play all the word games you want. Willful ignorance and mindless rudeness are not now, and never have been, virtues. Regardless of what your mediocre little hamster tells you.

    The “war on terror,” like any other war on an inanimate object, was and is a fool’s errand. Only distracted homoerotic negro fetishist sports fans such as yourselves would ever fall for that. “Team Amurrica” got to get back at the ragheads for 9-11, right? We’re a world superpower and the greatest nation ever known, right? Wrong.
    More like a degenerate nation acting “nigger rich on payday” casually wasting the lives of our few remaining virtuous young men.

    It is appalling that I should even have to explain this to you at all. Perhaps you travel in company with those whites who elected Obama. Did you get a tingle at the thought of being lorded over by a nigger? I’ll bet you did.

    Have a Dixie day!
    Deo Vindice

  22. Come to think of it, both the vaunted Northwest and the perfidious Northeast are Obama strongholds. Messed up in 2008, did you great Northern white man?

    I guess you’ll know in the future not to let your negro fetish get the best of you.

    Deo Vindice

  23. “Give me Liberty or Give Me Nothing at All” is the Homeland Security (TM) approved version.

  24. Ever notice how “they” wrote Patrick Henry and so many other Founding Fathers out of the history books? He was a big deal when I went to school, as was the federalist vs anti federalist arguments now….A great man, a Son of the South and a Virginian, and hardly a word

    Personally Apuleius, I prefer to be thoughtful, course and an asshole. It gets shit done

  25. As I said, it did “seem an odd way of saying that LIBERTY is foundational and valued more than government services, handouts, healthcare, etc., NONE OF WHICH can be substituted or given in exchange for it” — because I didn’t take from it what you did: that it is a degenerates’ version of Patrick Henry, meaning NOT BEING WILLING TO DIE for Freedom. I see what exactly you meant, now. Yes, it seemed a STRANGE way of saying “Give me Liberty or give me death” BECAUSE IT WASN’T SAYING THAT! Good observation!

    Re: “The ‘war on terror’…was and is a fool’s errand…’Team Amurrica’ got…back at the ragheads for 9-11, right? We’re a world superpower and the greatest nation ever known, right? Wrong. More like a degenerate nation acting ‘nigger rich on payday’ casually wasting the lives of our few remaining virtuous young men”: Sounds like something I would say, and I’m glad to see you’re in line with MY consistent position AGAINST what I called, in my foregoing comment: “the endless global humanitarian ‘war on terror’ ” (I have also called it much worse names.) But I was concerned, when you said you “knew right then that the war on terror would be lost,” that you thought the war was a good thing and that you were actually on board with it, maybe being a mercenary involved. or somehow otherwise benefitting from it.

    And this is ENTIRELY mis-directed: “Only distracted homoerotic negro fetishist sports fans such as yourself would ever fall for that…It is appalling that I should even have to explain this to you at all. Perhaps you travel in company with those whites who elected Obama.” Now you’ve even misjudged me as a sports fan. I DESPISE WATCHING SPORTS!

    I think we’re mostly “on the same page” Apuleius. Have a good day in Dixie. I’ll check in again, much later, back to work now.

  26. Landshark, says it best: It’s the Homeland Security approved version.

    To Apuleius from the Great White North, one more comment since I noticed your last comment that appeared while I was writing: The “great Northern white man” has no “negro fetish” at all, and we don’t want you SENDING any of them to us either!

  27. then why did you set them free, make them equal with the 14th amendment then elevate them over White men with the civil rights act etc all?

  28. Because there is something in Yankees that wants to drive the South into the dirt, same as the South hates the Yankee. We are oil and water. We are the Hatfields and the McCoys. Born to fight. Yup. We’re bastards. Lock us up and throw away the key.

  29. Came in to drink water, had to look.

    Stonelifter, I should have written: “THIS” northern white man, or “SOME” northern whites, which I meant and didn’t make clear by “THE” northern white man. I agree with the intention of your questions.

  30. Apuleius: Patrick Henry is one of my favorite Founding Fathers. And yes, he was totally written out. Try quoting him today and you’ll get the trout look from conservatards. My favorite is “You are not to inquire how your trade may be increased, nor how you are to become a great and powerful people, but how your liberties can be secured; for liberty ought to be the direct end of your Government.”

    To modern ears, this man would be a hater, possibly even a “violent extremist”.

  31. Ask any modern conservitard to name you one single right the Constitution reserves for the State or the Citizen and I’ll bet you 100 to 1 they’ll quote something from the Bill of Rights. Guess who fought for and won us the Bill or Rights? ANSWER: The Anti-Federalists like Patrick Henry. Alexander Hamilton and his imperialist ilk thought they were totally unnecessary.

  32. Read Brutus XI for the Anti-Federalist rejection of the judicial system laid out in the Constitution.
    “…because those who are to be vested with it [Supreme Court], are to be placed in a situation althogether unprecedented in a free country”
    “…they [SC judges] will operate to a total subversion of the State judiciaries, if not, to the legislative authority of the states.”
    “By this they [SC judges] are empowered, to explain the Constitution according to the reasoning spirit of it, without being confined to the words or letters.”
    “And in their [SC] decisions they will not confine themselves to any fixed or established rules, but will determine, according to what appears to them, the reason and spirit of the constitution. The opinions of the supreme court, whatever they may be, will have the force of law…”
    “That the judicial power of the United States, will lean strongly in favour of the general government, and will give such an explanation to the constitution, as will favour an extension of its jurisdiction, is very evident from a variety of considerations”

  33. “LandShark says:
    June 29, 2012 at 5:19 pm
    Because there is something in Yankees that wants to drive the South into the dirt, same as the South hates the Yankee. We are oil and water. We are the Hatfields and the McCoys. Born to fight. Yup. We’re bastards. Lock us up and throw away the key.”

    But we don’t NEED to do that.

    We need to be like the Hatfields. The McCoys were almost totally destroyed by the demented McCoy Pater. He was an archetypal Shooter Off-er of His Own Footer.

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