King v. Burwell and Obamacare

If you're at all concerned with the possibility that the Supreme Court may shortly deprive tens of thousands of people of their (recently-acquired) federally-subsidized health insurance, you should look at this post by Timothy Jost on Balkinization, detailing the contents of the amicus briefs that put the anti-Obamacare forces (I think) to shame. And then look at this Wall Street Journal story, and this one, and this amazing piece from Mother Jones, about the four "plaintiffs" in the case, who have little to no idea of the position "their" lawyers are taking on their behalf, and in at least one case don't seem to even know that they're plaintiffs. The plaintiff's legal theory is pathetic, the lawyer's supposed named plaintiffs are frauds--and yet it's actually possible that the Supreme Court might endorse the theory to protect those plaintiffs.

John Roberts can work as hard as he wants to protect the reputation of the Supreme Court as non-political, but if they decide against the US on this one, they will have no credibility left at all.  

DC Circuit on Health Reform

Can't have a bioethics blog in America without at least noting this very important appellate opinion upholding the constitutionality of the Obama's health reform. It comes on the eve of the Supreme Court's decision whether to grant cert and hear appeals from earlier-decided cases on the same issue. For unbeatable analysis, see Tim Jost's post here.