Virginia’s Ken Cuccinelli, a major force in bringing the constitutionality question on PPACA Obamacare, is now fine with the decision by Justice Roberts. He states that he did not consider the legal position that Roberts put forward in preserving the law. In an interview with The Washington Post, he said “That was not one of the combinations that were even in our top five. That permutation was one that we didn’t spend a lot of time thinking was a likely outcome.”
Why he didn’t think of interpreting the mandate as a tax is not clear, given that many in the GOP were crying that it was a tax. Perhaps he did not consider this interpretation because, if he had, he would not have had a basis for a lawsuit. The good outcome for Cuccinelli in forcing a ridiculous lawsuit into the Supreme Court is that it made his name among the radical right. Without Cuccinelli, perhaps there would have been no constitutional challenge — Lots of money saved, lots of stress averted — but not nearly as many people would know his name. It is difficult not to think he used his public office for political advantage. Regardless of the outcome or the merits of his lawsuit, his opposition to Obamacare kept his name in the national headlines effectively for over a year as a champion of the opposition to President Obama’s signature health care bill. Virginia taxpayers could wish he had thought about that permutation before filing the lawsuit and saved all that expensive ruckus.
Life in the Third Layer 