Yesterday's decision caught off guard and stunned many of the partisans on both sides of the political spectrum. What is happy to report is that the outcome served a progressive vision for our country and not a selfish individualistic one. This is a turning point in our society and sets the stage for a greater participation in not only health care opportunities for millions of Americans but it also reinforces the ideal that community is essential for society to advance in an enlightened civilized way. There will be many who question the intent behind conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robert's decision to break from a potential conservative majority that would have struck the health care law down but instead sided with progressives to advance health care to many more millions of Americans. Some will say he had ulterior motives. His decision to use the tax code, instead of the commerce clause, as an avenue to let the health care law advance is surely a plan by Roberts to attack other amendments and laws previously decided through the commerce clause. The problem with that line of reasoning is that Chief Justice Roberts could have accomplished the same goal without having upheld the health care law. He could have just as easily sided with the conservative majority and struck down the law and still found the commerce clause widely invalid for the constitutionality of health care reform. Instead of some ulterior motive, it is plain to me that Chief Justice Roberts just simply adjudicated his decision on the necessary health care reform law with the width and breadth of gravitas that should be the norm in Supreme Court rulings instead of the constant ideological maneuverings that typically denigrate the courts stature.
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