This seems so obvious…

[Steven Haworth]

This seems so obvious, am I missing something…

Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), albeit in an obvious moment of legislative malpractice, as most of them never read, or were even allowed the opportunity to read it, before a vote was forced upon them.  Nonetheless, Congress is our elected body responsible for writing, debating and eventually passing legislation.   NOT the courts.  NOT unelected judges.  NOT even U.S. Supreme Court Justices.  If the law, any part of it, is found to be unconstitutional then the court has but one responsibility…throw the whole thing out and let the elected body rewrite and reinstate those parts that the Congress feels is necessary going forward. 

It also seems obvious that the Congress knew the law would not stand if the mandate was removed, and thusly they removed the severability clause before they passed it, putting all the eggs in one basket.  And, without the severability clause the PPACA is one big thing, not a bunch of small pieces the court can allow to stand alone.   If the court has the inkling to go page by page through 2700 pages and pick and choose which items stay and which items go, then they have themselves become legislators and not Justices.

It also seems obvious, at least to me, that the most important thing in the 2012 election is to have a conservative President to appoint the next round of Justices to the SCOTUS. 

As obvious as the unconstitutionality of the PPACA is, what isn’t so obvious is why there is such a divide on the SCOTUS bench.  Aren't they all reading the same Constitution?  how can there be so many different interpretations of the same document?