Justice Kennedy's Comments Stir the Tea Leaves on Obamacare

[elleng]

10. Trying to read tea leaves based on today's colloquy is silly, imo.

'Kennedy, the court's most frequent swing vote, hinted he was open to backing the administration.

Kennedy told a lawyer challenging the tax subsidies that "there's a serious constitutional problem if we adopt your argument." The justice said that limiting subsidies to the handful of states that have set up their own insurance exchanges, as the challengers seek, might amount to unconstitutional coercion of the states that did not set up their own markets, pressuring them to do so.

Kennedy intimated he might interpret a disputed four-word phrase in a way that avoided that problem, and saved the Obamacare tax credits. . .

Jump ahead to the congressional hearing . . .

"Some people say that should affect the way we interpret the statutes. That seems to me a wrong proposition. We have to assume that we have three fully functioning branches of the government." . .

Nor is it at all obvious Kennedy had health care on his mind when he spoke before the congressional panel.

And, of course, even if Kennedy backs the Obamacare challengers, the administration still can hope for winning over Roberts. . .

Adler wasn’t buying it, saying Kennedy was merely describing the court's established approach toward statutory interpretation.

"There is," Adler tweeted, "nothing new in that statement."'

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-03-23/justice-kennedy-s-comments-stir-the-tea-leaves-on-obamacare?cmpid=yhoo