Tagged: U.S. Supreme Court

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two marriage equality cases. The Prop 8 case is a constitutional challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage. The justices seem divided on the issue and there are even hints the case could get thrown out on standing. Tuesday's arguments brought us gems like whether gay marriage is newer than cell phones, whether it's harmful to children, and whether couples older than 55 should be able to marry even if they can't procreate.

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky repeated his call today for the repeal of President Obama’s federal health care overhaul upheld last month by the Supreme Court.

In a speech to the Louisville Rotary Club, the Senate Republican Leader called the Affordable Health Care Act  “too arrogant and too overreaching.”

Comparing the debate to the infamous Dred Scott case, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says the Supreme Court's ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act isn't the final word.

In a brief editorial, Paul also addresses criticisms for his earlier dismissal of the high court's powers to declare what is constitutional. He also mentions the Plessy v. Ferguson decision that made racial separation legal in the U.S. under Jim Crow as an example of the high court being wrong about what is constitutional.

From USA Today:

While it is clear to anyone who was awake in high school civics class that the Supreme Court has the power to declare whether a law is valid under the Constitution, that power is not a pronouncement set in stone.

Think of how our country would look now had the Supreme Court not changed its view of what is constitutional. Think of 1857, when the court handed down the outrageous Dred Scott decision, which said African Americans were not citizens.

Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the health care overhaul, governments, businesses, providers and taxpayers are preparing for the law’s implementation, much of it in 2014.

Friday on Byline, we took a close look at the local impacts of the Affordable Care Act with  Jodi Mitchell of Kentucky Voices for Health; Anne Hadreas with the  Kentucky Equal Justice Center and Terry Brooks of Kentucky Youth Advocates.

Information for this post also came from the Associated Press

President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will proceed thanks to the help of conservative Chief Justice John Roberts. The Supreme Court upheld the law today with Roberts joining with the court's four liberal justices in a 5-4 decision.