Subsidies stay.
Go read Ann Althouse, who’ll be updating with commentary on the opinion later, I’m sure, then come back here to give me your opinion on the opinion. I don’t know enough about the whole process and the extent to which it’s legit to use “intent” (as interpreted after-the-fact, after seeing the consequences) to be able to determine whether the opinion is appropriate or a cowardly bowing to politics and/or imposition of the Justices’ personal preferences.
My instinctive reaction? Disappointment. As I’ve said (and if I would just buckle down and get my posts tagged, you’d be able to see), the status quo ante isn’t really an option, but Obamacare has so many problems that a do-over would have been a good thing. But in the meantime, time to work — and then hope for dry weather this afternoon for a promised paddleboat outing with the kids.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
MUST READ:
It rained. We didn’t make it paddleboating. I’ve now told the kids that that’ll happen tomorrow, and in the meantime we watched a movie.
I’m also not going to read the particulars of the decision, at least not for the time being, and am definitely not going to engage in this wild “was Roberts blackmailed?” speculation.
Yes, it’s possible that Roberts chose to make a decision that violated all legal precedent because he feared the political consequences of ruling that subsidies for federal exchanges were unconstitutional. It’s possible that I’m a coward for not wanting to Know The Truth. Maybe it’s the middle-child, conflict-avoider in me — maybe I should write a devastating rant about How Politicized the Supreme Court Has Become in the hopes that it goes viral (the dream of every aspiring blogger). But I’m not going to. Instead I’m going to go tuck my kids in, finish up a bit of work, and read a book.
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