BLOGGER REVIEW

Some emails have said we  treated Judge Hirsch too roughly yesterday; that Judge Hirsch had the courage to tackle a very unfair law and did so with the best of his ability and that he should receive kudos for his courage to issue what could be considered among the public as a very unpopular ruling. 

So there you have the other side of this coin. Does Rumpole owe Judge Hirsch an apology? We think not, although we do agree Judge Hirsch should be lauded for the intellectual honesty and courage to grant a very difficult motion. There is no doubt Judge Hirsch ruled the way he ruled for no other reason than he thought it was the right thing to do. That is always the final arbiter of a great Judge and in that regard Judge Hirsch gets very high marks regardless of what Judge Rothenberg had to say. 

ACA DAY TWO:

In our view Chief Justice Roberts voted to uphold the health care law for two reasons: first-if it was going to be 5-4 then Roberts felt an obligation to uphold the law and turned to Justice Holmes, whom he quoted in the opinion, for support: "As between two possible interpretations of a statute, by one of which it would be unconstitutional and by the other valid our plain duty is to adopt that which will save the act.”

Second: no matter the result, Roberts had bigger fish to fry than health care: the commerce clause. This case gave the Roberts' court a clear shot at knocking the commerce clause back down from the "super- clause"  status that was in the past used to desegregate Ollie's barb-be-que (See, Katzenback v. McClung, 379 U.S 294 (1964) in which the court used the commerce clause to outlaw segregated restaurants) and was used to force private businesses to abide by the 1964 Civil Rights Bill (See, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S.,  379 U.S. 241 (1964).)  As true conservatives have  said for years, if the court could use the commerce clause to forbid a farmer from eating the wheat he grew (See, Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942) ) what couldn't the court do?  The proper result in the civil rights cases never fully erased the court's use of the commerce clause to eviscerate private property rights. True conservatives believe that while racism is abhorrent, private property rights are the foundation of all other rights and thus should trump an ignorant racist's desire to run a segregated business.

 Roberts went out of his way to stop "his fellow liberals"  (especially Ginsburg) in their tracks and prevent them from re-invorigating the commerce clause by using the clause to justify  congress's power to force all americans to buy health insurance. Roberts cast the deciding fifth vote, but he did it on the basis of the power to tax, not regulate commerce. For Roberts the decision became a win-win situation. He achieved a political end (stopping a 5-4 reversal) and struck a blow for the cause of real  conservatism by knocking the commerce clause down a peg or two. 

Note a few changes in the CJ's announced summer schedule: He will NOT be attending a fourth of July Picnic at the Ronald Reagan library. Instead he will be attending a private fourth of July celebration with the Obamas at Camp David. He will not be driving with Justice Thomas in his camper across the country this summer- he will be attending summer teas with Ginsberg and Kagan and Breyer. 

COFFEE

Not to digress, but there was a brief bit of conversation in the comments section about the best coffee in town.  We have in the past moderated very fruitful discussions of important topics like the best bar-be-que. So lets have it- Starbucks (cheap swill) excluded- who has the best cup of Joe? 

What are the best beans and where can you find them? Our vote: Peaberry coffee. A Peaberry bean is a bean that occurs in only 5% of coffee beans. Most coffee beans occur two to the coffee cherry bean. However a peaberry is produced when the cherry produces only one bean- almost always smaller than a regular coffee bean. 

What is the best way to brew the best beans? French press? Percolator? Mr. Coffee? 

The Marlins have a home stand this weekend. Do yourself a favor and go see a game. 

Enjoy the weekend.