What's at Stake as Obama Tries to Intimidate the Supreme Court | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

What's at Stake as Obama Tries to Intimidate the Supreme Court | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: "There have been cases where a president was upset about an opinion after it was issued, but not cases where a president tried to influence a decision in the making. That might be comparable to jury tampering — usually treated as a felony."

What about FDR's attempt to pack the court?

"By trying to bully another branch of our government, Obama appears to be challenging our federal system itself, based as it is on a separation of powers.

Perhaps we need to remind ourselves how hard people struggled and how much they sacrificed to develop this, the most successful political system ever devised for limiting government power and protecting liberty."

"In 1628, Coke drafted the Petition of Right that aimed to limit the king’s power: (1) taxes couldn’t be imposed without Parliament’s consent; (2) citizens couldn’t be forced to provide food and shelter for soldiers; (3) individuals could be imprisoned only upon the order of a judge; (4) the king couldn’t arbitrarily declare martial law."

"[John Lilburne] was the first person to challenge the legitimacy of the Star Chamber, the English royal court that had become a notorious instrument for suppressing dissent. He was the first to challenge Parliament’s prerogative as a law court for imprisoning adversaries. He was the first to challenge the prosecution tactic of extracting confessions until defendants incriminated themselves. He challenged the standard practice of imprisoning people without filing formal charges. He challenged judges who tried to intimidate juries."

"One of [William Penn's] cases helped secure the right to trial by jury. In 1670, as a young lawyer, he decided to challenge the Conventicle Act that Parliament had passed to suppress “seditious conventicles” (as assemblies of religious dissidents were called). Many Quakers were imprisoned.

The jury acquitted the Quakers, but the Lord Mayor of London refused to accept the verdict. He fined the jury members and ordered that they be held in Newgate Prison until they came back with a guilty verdict. Still, they affirmed their acquittal. After the jury had been imprisoned for about two months, England’s Court of Common Pleas issued a writ of habeas corpus to set those people free. Then they sued the Lord Mayor of London for false arrest. The Lord Chief Justice of England, together with his 11 associates, ruled unanimously that juries must not be coerced or punished for their verdicts."

Madison: “A law violating a constitution established by the people themselves, would be considered by the Judges as null and void.”

"Senator Wheeler thundered [about FDR's court packing plan]: “Create now a political Court to echo the ideas of the executive and you have created a weapon which in the hands of another President could... cut down those guarantees of liberty written by the blood of your forefathers.”"

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: My Wife Joanne Has ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: My Wife Joanne Has ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease: "ALS is painless, non-contagious, and extremely cruel. The cause of ALS is unknown, but motor functions of the central nervous system cease to function although the mind remains fully aware to the end."

"I am sponsoring a raffle for the benefit of ALS research. 50% of the proceeds of the raffle will go to the Les Turner Foundation, with the money specifically earmarked for ALS research.

The other 50% will go to raffle winners."

The Role of Partisanship in the Health Care Reform Challenge | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Role of Partisanship in the Health Care Reform Challenge | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: Commentary: "If the law is struck down, it will almost assuredly be on a 5-4 vote. As predicted by many, none of the liberal justices seemed inclined to rule any part of the law unconstitutional, yet this presumptive unanimity of the four liberal justices rarely elicits catcalls of partisanship. When the four conservative justices — sans Justice Anthony Kennedy — move in predictable lockstep, it is often sneeringly cited as a product of partisanship rather than a principled constitutional analysis. Such an attitude, if held by someone from either political side, is simply too self serving to be worthy of respect."

Conservatives And the Courts | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Conservatives And the Courts | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The latest meme from the Obama administration, congressional Democrats, and much of the media is that if the Supreme Court were to strike down all or part of Obamacare, it would place the Court's legitimacy itself at risk. After all, since only 28 state attorneys general, at least two District Court Judges and five Circuit Court Judges (including a Clinton appointee), numerous law professors, the 52 organizations and hundreds of state legislators who filed briefs in support of the plaintiffs, and 72 percent of the American public believe that Obamacare's attempt to force every American to buy a specific commercial product is unconstitutional, it would obviously be an unprecedented act of judicial activism for the Court to agree.

Of course, there is nothing really unprecedented about the Court striking down legislation that it finds outside of constitutional bounds. Between 1803 and 2002, the Supreme Court struck down as many as 1,315 laws on constitutional grounds. Indeed, many of the judicial decisions that liberals hold most dear involved striking down legislation."

Where Was the Catholic Church When the Obamacare Mandate Was Being Debated? | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

Where Was the Catholic Church When the Obamacare Mandate Was Being Debated? | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary: "infringements on economic liberty tend to undermine other liberties. Freedom of religion is impossible unless churches are private property — sanctuaries where people may gather peacefully without interference and without being forced to violate their core teachings."

"How is it that a group of Catholic nuns, representing 22 religious organizations, filed an amicus brief supporting the Obamacare mandate?

The short answer, of course, is that as long as Church officials thought they would be exempted from the mandate via a religious carve-out, they didn’t expect to gain by venturing into controversy."

"political power must be limited, because there’s no reliable way of keeping bad or incompetent people away from it"

"Lord Acton said: “I cannot accept your view that we are to judge pope and king unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”"

The Coming Medical Ethics Crisis | Jeffrey A. Singer | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Coming Medical Ethics Crisis | Jeffrey A. Singer | Cato Institute: Commentary: "These protocols govern the therapeutic decisions made by the health care practitioner — right down to the pre-operative antibiotics a surgeon may order. Despite the fact that several recent peer-reviewed studies concluded that the protocols have had no positive effect — in fact, one study showed post-op skin infections increased since the protocols were instituted — CMS imposes financial penalties on hospitals that fail to get protocol compliance from their medical staff."

"One way CMS is trying to deal with this is by penalizing hospitals and doctors who treat patients with resistant problems. Effective this year, any patient readmitted to a hospital within 30 days of discharge for the same or a related problem will be treated by the hospital without compensation."

"In a few years, almost all doctors will be employees of hospitals and will be ordered to practice medicine according to federally prescribed guidelines — guidelines that put the best interests of the state ahead of the interests of individual patients.

When the physician's primary obligation is to satisfy the wishes of the payer — ultimately the wishes of the state — how can patients be truly confident in their doctors' decisions?"

What to Do on the Day after ObamaCare | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary

What to Do on the Day after ObamaCare | John H. Cochrane | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Insurance proper is what pays for unplanned large expenses, not for regular, predictable expenses. Insurance policies should be "guaranteed renewable": The policy should include a right to purchase insurance in the future, no matter if you get sick. And insurance should follow you from job to job, and if you move across state lines.

Why don't we have such markets? Because the government has regulated them out of existence."

"Start with the tax deduction employers can take for their contributions to group health-insurance policies — but which they cannot take for making contributions to employees for individual, portable insurance policies. This is why you have insurance only so long as you stay with one employer, and why you face pre-existing conditions exclusions if you change jobs.

Continue with the endless mandates (both state and federal) on insurance companies to provide all sorts of benefits people would otherwise not choose to buy. It sounds great to "make insurance companies pay" for acupuncture. But that raises the premiums, and then people choose not to buy the insurance. Instead of these mandates, at least allow people to buy insurance that only covers the big expenses."

"the expenses of emergency room treatment for indigent uninsured people are not health-care's central cost problem. Costs are rising because people who do have insurance, and their doctors, overuse health services and don't shop on price, and because regulations have salted insurance with ever more coverage for them to overuse."

"The number of new doctors is still restricted, thanks to Congress and the American Medical Association. Congress caps the number of residencies, the AMA has fought the expansion of medical schools, state tests make it difficult for foreign doctors to work here, and on and on.

There are hundreds of government impediments to competition. New hospitals? In my home state of Illinois, every new hospital, expansion of an existing facility or major equipment purchase must obtain a "certificate of need" from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. The board does a great job of insulating existing hospitals from competition if they are well connected politically. Imagine the joy United Airlines would feel if Southwest had to get a "certificate of need" before moving in to a new city — or the pleasure Sears would have if Wal-Mart had to do so — and all it took was a small contribution to a well-connected official."

Minimum Wage, Including in N.J., Could Mean Maximum Damage | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary

Minimum Wage, Including in N.J., Could Mean Maximum Damage | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The trouble is that most exempt jobs offer no training, no benefits and no future. Shrinking the number of jobs among larger, more visible employers by raising their minimum wage will result in trapping more unskilled young people in dead-end jobs where the law is not binding."

ObamaCare: The Supreme Court as a Constitutional Death Panel | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

ObamaCare: The Supreme Court as a Constitutional Death Panel | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "For instance, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman complained that "the justices most hostile to the law don't understand, or choose not to understand, how insurance works." However, he doesn't appear to understand, or choose to understand, constitutional law. The issue is whether the Constitution grants the power asserted, not whether the legislation is good insurance policy."

"The Constitution consciously puts certain powers beyond the reach of even elected officials. If the Supreme Court effectively suspends or amends the Constitution by majority vote for whatever reason, there is no defensible rule of law."

"states otherwise have essentially unlimited power to tax and regulate. Which is why then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney could push into law a state requirement to buy health insurance."

"Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) responded "are you kidding" when asked about Congress' authority. Then-Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) admitted that "There's nothing in the Constitution that says that the federal government has anything to do with most of the stuff we do." In their view Washington enjoys unlimited power. The Constitution is but a quaint ornament for display."

Do Blood And Guts Make for Good Presidencies? | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Do Blood And Guts Make for Good Presidencies? | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: '"military deaths as a percentage of population is a major determinant of greatness in the eyes of historians."'

'It's also worth reminding presidents that, as Wilson, Truman, and George W. Bush discovered, unnecessary wars make presidents unpopular. While historians may eventually award extra credit for spending American blood and treasure, ordinary Americans generally don't. Here again, they come out looking smarter than the intellectuals.'