Rep. LePak: Article V Convention Offers Relief From Judicial Actions
Mark LePak: How Oklahoma can take action against the Supreme Court’s ‘Obamacare’ and same-sex marriage decisions
How to deal with the ‘Obamacare’ and same-sex marriage decisions
By Rep. MARK LEPAK
Millions of Americans are stunned by two recent major U.S. Supreme Court decisions, one regarding the Affordable Care Act and the other changing the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. Regardless of where one stands on these two issues, we should be alarmed at how the Court arrived at its decisions.
With the ACA, the court effectively decided to interpret law as it believes it should have been written — twice. In an earlier case, the court said the word “penalty” should have said “tax,” and since Congress had the authority to tax, the law would stand. This time, they said that the plain language about state exchanges should have also included language to include federal exchanges, and therefore, would be interpreted as if they had been there. This logic is akin to a football referee awarding a touchdown to a ball carrier who was tackled short of the goal line, because he should have scored, had the team only run a different play. Touchdown anyway. Unbelievable. As for the ruling on marriage, the court divined a right that simply doesn’t exist in our Constitution, and pushed aside state laws decided by their voters.
In my view, both were political decisions, which is something the Supreme Court is supposed to avoid. This court is both rewriting the legislation upon which the Congress voted, and granting “rights” (effectively writing new law) because the winds of popular opinion seem to be blowing that way. Those celebrating victory won under these circumstances are short sighted, and will lament future decisions for the same reasons they cheer today.