Can Kavanaugh Be Trusted on Obamacare?

The American Spectator

"A much-debated 2011 opinion suggests that he can."

"Even before President Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, political henchmen and media hacks began rummaging through his record like so many rats in a ripe dumpster. Their sojourn in the slime revealed nothing more sinister than a conscientious jurist who has actually read the Constitution. To their dismay, his most notable opinion as a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals suggests that he’ll vote to strike down Obamacare’s individual mandate, as well as its guaranteed issue and community rating provisions, when Texas v. United States makes its way to SCOTUS.

"Texas v. United States is, of course, the latest challenge to Obamacare’s constitutionality. It was filed by Texas and nineteen additional states not long after Congress reduced the “tax penalty” associated with the health care law’s individual mandate to zero. In 2012 Chief Justice Roberts ruled, in NFIB v. Sebelius, that the individual mandate was constitutional because it was essentially a tax collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for purposes of raising revenue for the government. The plaintiffs argue that the elimination of the tax penalty by Congress last year rendered the Roberts ruling both “irrational” and “legally impossible.”

"The case is currently being argued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas before Judge Reed O’Connor, who is almost certainly going to rule in favor of the plaintiffs. After going through the usual tedious appeals process, it will inevitably end up before SCOTUS. And this is where some conservatives worry about Kavanaugh. Why? " . . .

Consequently, the only question left for SCOTUS to decide, when Texas v. United States arrives on its doorstep, is what possible rationale can be used to uphold the individual mandate? The Court has already rejected the Commerce Clause argument. The Republican Congress eliminated the tax effective January 1. Thus, because Judge Kavanaugh is an originalist, he will look to the Constitution for some other legitimate reason to uphold the mandate. He will, of course, come up dry. And that’s why Brett Kavanaugh can be trusted on Obamacare.

Democrats Don’t Know Anything About Judge Kavanaugh, They Just Know They Don’t Like Him

Legal Insurrection  

"Monday night, Trump announced his second Supreme Court Justice nominee, setting the left’s dumpster of irrational fears ablaze.

"The meltdowns began with Justice Kennedy’s retirement announcement when Democrats and their media outlets began declaring the end of civilization and the beginning of Handmaid’s Tale Armageddon.

"The White House was especially tight-lipped about Trump’s decision to nominate Judge Kavanaugh to the bench. But Democrats (at least lost with the loudest national platforms) aren’t concerned about Kavanaugh’s record or judicial philosophy, they just know they don’t like him or anyone else on Trump’s shortlist." . . .

Alex Pappas

✔@AlexPappas

When you pre-write your press release slamming Trump’s SCOTUS pick but forget to add the name....

The Strange Career of White Privilege

Victor Davis Hanson

Rich whites invent minority pedigrees to gain advantage while they condemn poor and working-class rural whites as racist.

"You hear the phrase “white privilege” nonstop in America these days, as the slogan has transcended the campus and entered popular culture.

"Historically, the term apparently refers to the original European settlers who came to the United States and later equated the protections of the U.S. Constitution solely with their own majority ethnicity and race — a tribal and chauvinistic mindset that still governs politics and immigration the world over, from China and Japan to most African and South American countries.

"Yet the singular transcendent logic of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence was that all people innately were created equal. It took over two centuries on the ground to catch up to such lofty idealism.

"Yet given that immigration by the early 19th century was already bringing in millions of so-called non-white immigrants, in addition to Native and African Americans, America soon was at least evolving into a multiracial democratic nation united under one shared culture — a radical idea and the first such edgy experiment in human history.

"During the civil-rights movement of the 1960s, the nation’s racial tensions were mostly still defined as a binary of a dominant white majority and an often discriminated-against African-American minority. 

"Years of past prejudice had sparked the idea of affirmative action, or federal reparatory programs accorded to a historically discriminated-against black minority." . . .

Yet no one quite new how to calibrate all the competing claims of victimhood by race, class, gender, and sexual orientation — as if a white transgendered actor should merit more grievance points than a black impoverished lesbian versus an Egyptian immigrant female CEO or a gay Latino policeman. Such musings are not caricatures, but the logic of the preambles to the usual progressive politicking, when a politico such as Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama did not welcome a crowd as a collective of Americans but ticked off all the various identity-politics groups present, all with claims against the majority.

. . .

 When [Trump voters] channel-surfed cable news, or heard of the antics that took place on college campuses, or saw street-theater demonstrations on television, they boiled at the idea that they had often worked at minimum wage, saw their jobs outsourced, never discriminated against anyone, and yet were being damned by smug youth who in a few years would draw on their college B.A. cattle brand, their parents’ lobbying, and the good-old-boy network of being rich, white, and from the proper zip code to inherit their rightful place in business, investment, politics, entertainment, the media, or the university. 

. . .  Keep reading, please

Jim Jordan Is A Man of Integrity Being Railroaded With Factless Allegations

People like Jim spend a lifetime developing a reputation of honesty and integrity, yet irresponsible media try to destroy that reputation with one misleading story. This is what makes it difficult to attract men and women of character and conviction to political office.  In the case of Jordan, the facts are already telling a different story than the headlines.

The Federalist

"When I read the actual stories under those headlines, my reaction turned from dread to outrage. Jim Jordan isn’t being accused; he’s being railroaded."

 Jim DeMint

. . . "Some of the former wrestlers, including two with criminal pasts, are now accusing Jordan of knowingly turning a blind eye to Strauss’s alleged abusive behavior. One is a serial litigant who has made wild accusations not only against Jordan, but Jordan’s brother and nephews as well, also wrestlers.

"Jordan categorically denies the allegations, stating on Fox News last week: “I never saw, never heard of, never was told about any kind of abuse. If I did I would have dealt with it. A good coach puts the interests of his student-athletes first.”

Former Wrestlers Stand Up for Jim Jordan’s Integrity  

"Amidst the sudden allegations, numerous former OSU wrestlers are coming forward to back Jordan and questioning the motivations for the charges.

“ 'There’s a lot more of us who are standing by (Jordan) than those who are accusing him of not acting,’’ former OSU wrestler Dan George told The Asbury Park Press. “I’m devastated by what I’ve heard. My heart goes out to anyone who was abused in any way. But Jim Jordan is a tremendous human being who has always lived his life beyond reproach. If he had any knowledge of any misconduct, he would deal with it. There’s no question in my mind.' ’’ . . .

A word of encouragement to Rep. Jordan would help him greatly, please:

 Rep. Jordan is 202-225-2676.  TD

What is your position regarding the American Federation of Teachers?

Daily Caller  "Failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is planning on appearing at a convention for the American Federation of Teachers this weekend.

"The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Clinton will speak on Friday while Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders will speak Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

"Clinton’s appearance at the same conference with Warren and Sanders, two possible Democratic challengers to President Trump in 2020, comes at a curious time." . . .

. . . "In a widely-cited recent column for the New York Post, Michael Goodwin wondered, “Is Hillary Clinton secretly planning to run in 2020?”

"As crazy as the idea may sound, a number of Democratic voters are actually open to it.

"According to a June poll, Clinton is Democratic voters’ second choice to be 2020 nominee behind former Vice President Joe Biden.

"In her book, “What Happened,” she said that she was done being a presidential candidate, however, she also said, “I will speak out on the causes I care about, campaigning for other Democrats, and do whatever I can to build the infrastructure we need to succeed.”

"Clinton has blamed her 2016 loss on a number of things other than just herself. Since the election, she has blamed Bernie Sanders and his “Bernie Bros,” racism, sexism, Joe Biden, “Pizzagate,” Anthony Weiner, and the media for her loss, among other things."

(RELATED: Today Is Blame Someone Else Day — Here Are All The Things Hillary Has Blamed For Her Election Loss.)  #13 is a winner:

13. #Hillary Blames white men and married white women for election loss #NationalBlameSomeoneElseDay

How Times Have Changed: In 1975, CA Gov. Jerry Brown Told Republican President Not To Dump Refugees On California

Freedom Outpost  According to The Washington Post, Larry Engelmann’s Tears Before the Rain: An Oral History of the Fall of South Vietnam, writes that Julia Vadala Taft, who led the interagency task force for refugee resettlement, remembered Brown’s opposition.

“The new governor of California, Jerry Brown, was very concerned about refugees settling in his state. Brown even attempted to prevent planes carrying refugees from landing at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento. . . . The secretary of health and welfare, Mario Obledo, felt that this addition of a large minority group would be unwelcome in California. And he said that they already had a large population of Hispanics, Filipinos, blacks, and other minorities.”

"There is something a little strange about saying, 'Let's bring in 500,000 more people' when we can't take care of the 1 million [Californians] out of work," he said while trying to block refugee flights to Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco.

"However, in 2015, Brown changed his tune when it came to Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Sobarkah's decision to dump Muslim refugees into the united States.

"The LA Times reported:

"Gov. Jerry Brown played it cool, showing concern both for the refugees and public safety."In a statement, Brown said he would "work closely" with Obama "so that he can both uphold America's traditional role as a place of asylum, but also ensure that anyone seeking refuge in America is fully vetted.""But Brown has his own checkered history of demagoguery about refugees. As a rookie governor when Saigon fell in 1975 and the U.S. was flying Vietnamese refugees to America, Brown was outspokenly opposed.

Tolerant liberals instill fear of violence in Fox News people . How vicious do you have to be to threaten Shannon Bream?

This Is the Left: Fox’s Shannon Bream Forced to ‘Bail’ on SCOTUS Set After Threats, ‘Volatile’ Scene  . . . "Throw in past scenes of harassment against White House officials, Senators, Trump supporters, and anyone not fully onboard with The Resistance and it’s no surprise that the next step for the perpetual leftist, violent mob is to go after conservative reporters or anyone not with, say, CNN or MSNBC." . . .

Fox News Host Abandons Live Broadcast at Supreme Court Because She Felt Unsafe

Lyndsey Fifield‏ @lyndseyfifield

White men screaming at @ShannonBream that she is a "blonde bimbo" outside #SCOTUS You hardly have to scratch the surface to see leftists sexism on display.

Shannon Bream

 "Hey hey, ho ho" etc.  Fox News anchor driven from Supreme Court building by threats from leftist protesters

Fox News Anchor Forced To Move Live SCOTUS Coverage Due To “Volatile” Mood & Protestors  . . . "Bream took to Twitter to paint a picture of the night’s events saying, “Very few times I’ve felt threatened while out in the field. The mood here tonight is very volatile. Law enforcement appears to be closing down 1st Street in front of SCOTUS.”

"She added, “Literally had to bail on our live show from #SCOTUS. Moving the show back to the safety of the studio. See y’all at 11p @FoxNews.”

"Among those protesting on the steps were Sen. Bernie Sanders as well as Planned Parenthood. Kavanaugh will likely make the scales favor the political right and protestors and the political left have been very vocal about their concerns when it comes to LGBTQ rights and abortion." . . .

On “MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle” , almost all of the panelists expressed their support of the pick on Tuesday morning.

These ladies will not be happy with that.

Daily Caller  “ 'MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle” hosted a panel to discuss President Trump’s selection of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and almost all of the panelists expressed their support of the pick on Tuesday morning.

“ 'I think that he has intellectual and moral integrity. He’s extremely smart. He’s very qualified. His opinions are outstanding,” said Peter Wehner, the former director of speechwriting under President George W. Bush.

“ 'So I really do think he’s a spectacular pick,” he continued. “I am a fierce critic of Donald Trump, but I’m capable of saying when he does something right. I think in this case, he did something right.' ” . . . Video at the link.

Sen. John McCain likes Judge Kavanaugh 

Even anti-Trumpers John McCain, Mitt Romney, and George W. Bush applauded President Trump’s stellar SCOTUS nominee.

 No thumbs-down as of noon Tuesday.

Have Jordan Accusers Reported Abuse at Their Work Places? "And get ready for the next character assassination."

So stand with Jim Jordan. He is a good man. And let him subpoena the records as Congress delves deeper and deeper into the bowels of the Deep State. And if you must get a daily fix on the politics of destruction and character assassination leveled against good people — now that Admiral Jackson has been defamed viciously, and the Trump Family seems to be enjoying a brief post-Peter-Fonda respite — fear not. The next campaign of personal destruction is about to launch: We now have a fabulous world-class United States Supreme Court justice nominee, with only two months available for the Democrat left and their Seedier Media to destroy a wonderfully dignified human being and perhaps an entire family.

American Spectator  "In the viciously cynical American political environment where we now live, it no longer is about quality and competence, skills and ability. It is about destruction of the opponent: destroy them, their character, their children, their family. Just destroy them. For example, let’s show pictures of a girl crying at the southern border when her mother puts her down for a moment — and then let’s tweet that we hope that the President’s child gets kidnapped and sexually abused. Let’s destroy that kid.
. . . 
"This is so vicious, so base, the endless character assassination — leveled by hypocrites and phonies who, in front of their own very eyes, see the evil and villainy of the Keith Ellisons and Hillary Clintons, the Bill Clintons and Maxine Waterses who should be ostracized and vomited out of the body politic. Keith Ellison is a Jew-hater who hobnobbed with Farrakhan and whose anti-Jewish snide remarks have been caught on tape. Hillary is a felon. Her husband is the sequel to Raging Bull: Raping Bill. And Maxine: at this moment in American history, suddenly that name will never be the same.

"But all those crooks and knaves are fine for the Democrat liberals smelling blood in the water near Jim Jordan. So let us consider a bit more deeply — in a case where an underling knows about abuse, which Jordan did not — what it means to speak out against abuse at the workplace. What it means in real life to be employed as a grunt at a place where the boss, or someone a bit less high up, is abusive — sexually abusive, physically abusive, emotionally abusive. Many inevitably encounter something like this at some job, but we prefer not to discuss it. Well, may as well discuss it:" . . .

Meryl Streep publicly praised Harvey Weinstein as “god.” She did not know? And the clapping seals loved it, cheering and gleefully giggling at the Academy Awards.

No one at CBS spoke out about Charlie Rose. No one knew? No one at NBC spoke out against Matt Lauer. No one knew? 

Understanding Why Jim Jordan Is Being Smeared  . . . "Gaetz nailed one of the motivations for the smear saying it was part of a campaign to distract from the FBI’s own embarrassments in mishandling a Russian collusion investigation. “This is a deliberate attempt to knock the best oversight member of Congress off his game the week [Peter] Strzok is scheduled to testify,” he continued.

"The timing of these allegations, their specious nature and the focus on what Jim Jordan “should have known” smells to high heaven of a political hit by Jordan’s RINO enemies.  This is the lowest and vilest attack yet on a conservative seeking a House leadership post and it tells us the Swamp thinks Jordan is winning the race for Speaker.
"The American Spectator’s Brandon J. Weichert expanded on this point in a must-read article from June 6:" . . .

As long as Jim Jordan is tied-up in this phony controversy the Deep State is still winning. Trump, Jordan, and the few others resisting this shadowy tyranny need reinforcements. The toll-free Capitol Switchboard is (1-866-220-0044) we urge CHQ readers and friends to call Representative Jim Jordan to tell him in the face of these vile attacks he should redouble his campaign for Speaker.

Another number for Rep. Jordan is 202-225-2676. Both have been busy today. TD 

San Francisco: liberal, leftist, California. What could go wrong?

Rich Terrell

On Judge Kavanaugh and Democrat rage

Tony Branco

What's wrong with this statement? 

Women's March mocked for pre-written press release opposing Supreme Court nominee 'XX'

Brett Kavanaugh: An Excellent Beginning  "President Trump announced his appointment of D. C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court a few minutes ago. Trump was joined at the podium by Kavanaugh and his wife and two daughters. The event was, I think, superbly staged. Some observations:" . . .
". . . The audience gave Judge Kavanaugh and his family a warm reception that must have impressed unbiased viewers. The road to confirmation may be bumpy, given the Democrats’ lunacy, but it got off to an excellent start tonight."

It's Brett Kavanaugh: Will Left's Rank Politics Of Rage Keep Trump's Brilliant Pick Off Supreme Court? 

We've been here before. Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas, both conservative jurists, were vilified, slandered and attacked publicly for the crime of being Republican nominees to the court. Only Thomas made it on, and just barely. In one of the great injustices of the Senate approval process, Democrats and their organized far-left media mob forced Bork, one of the best-qualified nominees in history to the court, to withdraw after a sickening campaign of defamation and character assassination.

 The SCOTUS nominee has to be 'controversial' because...Trump

. . . "And the media still don't understand why Trump has accurately labeled them fake news.

"Borking accusations sure to come: a woman – or maybe, for good measure, a man – will claim he behaved inappropriately 30 years ago.  Discussions that his active involvement in his Catholic community renders him incapable of judging several cases.  He worked under Ken Starr, so he's a misogynist."

Democrat 2020 contenders race to get their condemnations of Kavanaugh published

A Liberal’s Case for Brett Kavanaugh

NY Times Editorial

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, shown here in 2004, is President Trump’s
nominee for the Supreme Court.

"The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be the next Supreme Court justice is President Trump’s finest hour, his classiest move. Last week the president promised to select “someone with impeccable credentials, great intellect, unbiased judgment, and deep reverence for the laws and Constitution of the United States.” In picking Judge Kavanaugh, he has done just that.

"In 2016, I strongly supported Hillary Clinton for president as well as President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Merrick Garland. But today, with the exception of the current justices and Judge Garland, it is hard to name anyone with judicial credentials as strong as those of Judge Kavanaugh. He sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the most influential circuit court) and commands wide and deep respect among scholars, lawyers and jurists.

"Judge Kavanaugh, who is 53, has already helped decide hundreds of cases concerning a broad range of difficult issues. Good appellate judges faithfully follow the Supreme Court; great ones influence and help steer it. Several of Judge Kavanaugh’s most important ideas and arguments — such as his powerful defense of presidential authority to oversee federal bureaucrats and his skepticism about newfangled attacks on the property rights of criminal defendants — have found their way into Supreme Court opinions." . . . Full article
Via Lucianne