12 thoughts on “Keystone Congress”

1. Almost every contract and ordinance I’ve ever read or written includes a severability clause. It’s part of the standard template for writing one, for crying out loud.

   Not that I’m upset that it’s not included in this case, as it would be a nice way to kill the whole thing, but it certainly speaks to the incompetence of everyone involved in writing the monstrosity and voting for it (or the cunning of whoever found it and removed it without anyone noticing).

2. You have to pass it to find out what’s in it. Or what’s not. Heh.

3. Did we ever even find out which think tank or lobbyist group actually wrote the darn thing?

4. Big D: I doubt that any one group wrote it. Like all giant monsters of that sort, it’s an amalgam of wish-lists and bribes to constituencies.

   I’m also not sure that a severability clause is strictly necessary. Much as I’d like to throw it all out, I suspect the State’s lawyers are correct and that things completely unrelated to any unconstitutional parts would not automatically be thrown out if unconstitutional provisions and things related to them were tossed.

   It’s not at all clear to me that a severability clause in a statute does anything more than make Congressional intent clear about what it thinks should happen if there’s a successful challenge to any part of it.

   A quick search of case law suggests that courts are of the quite reasonable opinion that such a clause is no more than a guideline, and that they can sever if it’s absent, if the law suggests it, and ignore it if it’s present, for the same reasons.

5. Glenn Beck did on one of his shows. My swiss cheese memory seems to be coming up with the ‘apollo group?’, but don’t quote me.

6. I wouldn’t be surprised if several Representatives and Senators did not already have something ready for submission (thinking of Conyers or Kennedy specifically), just waiting for that day to come.

   Such a theory might also support the lack of a severability clause…everyone was submitting something intended for inclusion in a larger bill rather than submitting something comprehensive on their own.

7. ken anthony wrote:

   Glenn Beck did on one of his shows. My swiss cheese memory seems to be coming up with the ‘apollo group?’, but don’t quote me.

   I think it was the Stimulus Bill that they alledgedly wrote, but as the man says, don’t quote me on that.

   Mike

8. The senate voted on an unfinished, unpolished, incomplete proto-bill.

   Then Scott Brown was elected and suddenly the bill would face a filibuster if it returned to the senate. Obama was faced with either changing the bill enough to get support from a single RINO senator, or pressuring the Dems in the house to pass the Senate bill unchanged.

   The rest is history. It is quite likely that some part of Obamacare will be found unconstitutional, and then the lack of a “severability clause” will kill it completely.

   Let us hope.

9. The “Apollo Alliance”, I think it was.

10. I got to agree with Sigivald. Just because there isn’t a severability clause doesn’t mean that a court will find the whole thing unconstitutional. But something that massive, you’d have to wonder how the courts are going to be able to pick and choose, if they do decide on keeping part of it. Seems likely to be some unraveling of that law once part of it goes.

11. Imagine a Congress where, prior to voting on any bill, quorum was maintained while the entire bill was read aloud by the Speaker.

12. From memory, Ed. It doesn’t count unless the Speaker reads the entire bill from memory.

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