Exile on Main Street: The Roberts Court’s Decision on the Affordable Care Act
In 1995, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (better known as the Grammys) gave the award for Best Rock Album to the Rolling Stones for Voodoo Lounge. I challenge the reader to name even one hit song off the CD. Can’t think of one? That’s because there weren’t any. The last time the Rolling Stones made a good record was 1981’s Tattoo You. The last time the Stones made a great record was in 1972, with the release of Exile on Main Street. Exile is hands-down the definitive garage-rock record of all time. Any major critic will list it in their Top 10.
When Exile was released, it was panned by the critics and ignored by the Grammys. The reviewers said the album’s grungy, gritty aural presentation sounded like it was recorded in someone’s basement. It was. Keith Richards’ basement, to be exact. The Stones wanted to show the audience, “This is what rock ‘n’ roll is all about.” Songs such as “Tumbling Dice,” and “Happy” proved their point. The Grammys made up for ignoring such a monumentally great album by honouring the Stones decades later with an award for an album (Voodoo Lounge) which not only won’t make any critic’s list, but it would surely cure insomnia for anyone who was so afflicted.
In 2010 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars) gave the nod for Best Picture to The Hurt Locker, shutting out Avatar for most of the major awards given by Oscar that year. Avatar was not only a sweeping story that is a tale for the ages, but it was a technical triumph the likes of which had never been seen before or since. To give the award for Best Picture to The Hurt Locker made it clear to the audience that movies are not necessarily judged on the merits, but instead on the political machinations behind the scenes. Most Oscar-watchers figured that out years ago, but this was the most bald-faced example of the even-it-up politics that governs the Academy in recent history.
James Cameron had swept the Oscars about a decade-and-a-half earlier with Titanic, another spectacular example of the moviemaking art, so the Academy decided they weren’t going to give him another sweep, even though he clearly deserved it. Add to the mix that the director of The Hurt Locker was Cameron’s ex-wife (and she would be the first female to win Best Director) and the Oscar committee just couldn’t resist throwing everyone a curve and giving the nod to a movie that clearly did not deserve to win any of the major awards it did – especially when it was being compared to Avatar, which was a technical and artistic triumph.
In 2000 the Supreme Court decided that it would allow itself to become involved in the Florida recount battle, and thus the Court inexplicably agreed to hear Bush v. Gore, even though the Constitution clearly states that such voting disputes shall be decided by the House of Representatives. Setting aside the sheer unconstitutionality of the Court deciding the election, I was not as distressed at the outcome as many people were, because if the law had been followed and the issue had gone to the House, the GOP majority in that body would have easily elected George W. Bush to the presidency anyway, so his ascendancy was a fait accompli.
In 2010, in another monumental case the Court handed the Right a huge victory with the Citizens United decision, which has enabled Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers to funnel almost unimaginable (and unlimited) amounts of money into super-PACs without any accountability – and with the convenient arrangement of the candidate being subject to a “wall of separation” whereby the candidate can truthfully say that he cannot control the super-PAC or what it says or spends on anything, no matter how inaccurate or lugubrious the super-PAC’s actions may be.
So was John Roberts pondering the weight of those recent history-making decisions of the Court when he decided to side with the liberal minority on the Court regarding the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare? Submitted for the reader’s consideration is the possibility that Roberts was acting in the same way the Grammy and Oscar academies have often proceeded – with political “balancing acts” as the prime governing factors, rather than the merits of the actual matter at hand.
In the interest of disclosure, I can truthfully say I don’t have a dog in the fight. I didn’t care what the outcome would be regarding Obamacare on the merits. I’m healthy and haven’t had a medical incident in over five years.
Of course I was able to see what a political setback it would have been for the President if his signature piece of legislation had been overturned. And the fact that Roberts, of all the justices, decided that he would cross the aisle to save the Affordable Care Act suggests that he recognized the gravitas the decision would have not only for this political season but for decades to come, and Roberts further recognized that the credibility of the Court was at stake. It was only two weeks before the decision that TIME magazine ran a cover story on “The Decider” Anthony Kennedy, only to have Kennedy’s vote rendered inconsequential in the final analysis. To be fair, many other news outlets agreed with TIME that Kennedy would be the “swing” vote when in fact a curve ball that no one saw coming came out of left field via Chief Justice Roberts.
Progressives, beware. If Roberts was trying to “balance the Court” by throwing a bone to the Left with the upholding of Obamacare, he now is under no obligation to do that again any time soon – if ever. Proposition 8 will be making its way to the Court’s docket, possibly even as early as the 2013 term.
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/05/local/la-me-prop-8-20120606
If the Court’s composition remains as it is when the case is heard, it is doubtful that any more cover stories will be written on Anthony Kennedy’s supposed incredible sway over the Court. That’s a stale bit that the media vaudevillians will not be able to proffer a second time. But it should be considered that Roberts has given the unusual “award” to President Obama, Oscar-style. Now that the Supreme “Academy” has given a nod to the Progressive section of the audience, it will be more than inclined to go back to business as usual.
For Progressives who have been hoping that the Court would give a final just rendering on the issue of marriage equality, a disappointing night at the “awards show” may be in the offing. If the court decides to let Proposition 8 stand, it will no doubt be an Exile on Main Street for the millions of gays who have been hoping for a final positive decision on the matter of marriage equality.
An exile, indeed.
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