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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Tuesday, March 03, 2015 :::
Tomorrow the Supreme Court hears arguments about the text
enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State
The IRS has interpreted "the State" in the sense of "l'état", i.e. the government, including the federal government.
At least that's how it's being reported, even by the opponents of the administration's position. The way it's being reported, it sounds like that could reasonably be called a plausible interpretation, at which point the Supreme Court has a history of deferring to executive agencies. Including the next two words, though
enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State under 1311
with the annotation that section 1311 authorizes the creation of state exchanges and 1321 authorizes the federal exchange seems to me to remove any ambiguity. I can't imagine the plaintiffs losing on the substance if five of the justices make any attempt at a fair-minded interpretation of the law — unless there is some other key offsetting language that is getting even less attention than "under 1311". Notwithstanding their having passed it, I still don't know all of what's in that bill.
Were I trying to find an excuse to rule for the administration, the best I can offer is questions of standing; I personally am inclined to allow very broad standing, but I know that one or two of the conservative justices are sometimes amenable to narrow construals of standing, and could team up with the justices who are less historically prone to make fair-minded interpretations of the law.
::: posted by dWj at 10:13 AM
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