Judge Napolitano On Justice Roberts’ Ruling: ‘I Don’t Think He Made The Constitutional Decision’
Judge Andrew Napolitano stopped by Fox & Friends Friday morning to give his take on yesterday’s Supreme Court health care ruling, particularly where Chief Justice Roberts’ explanation is concerned.
“I don’t think he made the right decision,” said Napolitano. “I don’t think he made the sensible decision. I don’t think he made the constitutional decision. Because, basically, what he said was the Congress can’t force you to do anything but it can tax you if you don’t do it. Now, the practical effect is the same. So he’s basically unleashed the taxing power of the Congress by saying Congress’ ability to regulate you, to tell you you have to eat broccoli so that you won’t get sick and your health bills will be low, but it can tax you if you don’t eat broccoli.”
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“The dissenters point out effectively,” he added, “that the Chief Justice and the four liberal justices rewrote the statute. Because the President said it wasn’t a tax. The Democrats who voted for it said it wasn’t a tax. The statute itself said it’s not tax, it’s a fine.” That said, making this a tax makes things easier for Mitt Romney by making the law even less popular and going against previous promises made by the President.
“Can I tell you who is the victor here?” he said later on. “Governor Chris Christie. Because he said the legislature in the state of New Jersey, ‘I’m not going to enact this health care exchange until the Supreme Court rules.’ The one good thing that the Supreme Court rule did yesterday is the feds can’t force the states to establish these state insurance exchanges.”
Check it out, via Fox News:
