Appeals Court rules part of Obamacare unconstitutional......

[The Vorlon]

A poorly constructed bill from a constitutional point of view.

If the bill has said: 

1) We put a new tax of $4000 a person on everybody living in America.
2) If you have health insurance from your employer, other government program, or buy it your self, we give you a $4000 tax credit.....
3) If you make below X $ a year, we give you a subsidy based upon the following formula.....

there would be no constitutionality issue.

This is a hard one to call on SCOTUS, regulating commerce is one thing, requiring somebody to engage in commerce is another...

Wonder if the Supremes will take and then rule on the case before the 2012 election?

[The Vorlon]

Kagan's need to recluse herself really boils down to the degree that "the buck stops here" with respect to her role as Attorney General.

One would presume that the Justice Department was asked for a review of ObamaCare, in the way that any major piece of legislation is reviewed -  Getting the various departments, including justice, to "Sign Off" is routine.

If Kagan herself signed off and said "yup, this thing is constitutional" - then reclusing herself should be blindingly obvious, but if, as she argues, some lower level staffer signed off and she had no direct involvement and or knowledge, then she might argue she has yet to present a formal opinion, etc....

Kagan is essentially making the Reagan/Olie North/Iran Contra argument.....  Yes things happened, but I didn't know about them....

I personally find it hard to believe that The Solicitor General of the United States never, ever, in any way was consulted or expressed an opinion about a piece of legislation that reworks 1/6th of the economy....  But that's just my opinion, I don't know what the legal standard is.

[The Vorlon]

A poorly constructed bill from a constitutional point of view.

If the bill has said: 

1) We put a new tax of $4000 a person on everybody living in America.
2) If you have health insurance from your employer, other government program, or buy it your self, we give you a $4000 tax credit.....
3) If you make below X $ a year, we give you a subsidy based upon the following formula.....

there would be no constitutionality issue.

BUT TAXES R EVUL !!!

Evil and unconstitutional are unrelated concepts - the two sets intersect but are not congruent.