That’s Ed Morrissey’s take on the White House demanding Judge Roger Vinson tell the states to comply with ObamaCare*, the law Vinson just tossed as being unconstitutional:
Essentially, the Obama administration wants Vinson to tell the states to obey an unconstitutional law. This isn’t a necessary step for an appeal, although it might or might not be a prerequisite to an application for a stay at the 11th Circuit. Either way, it’s a fool’s errand. If a judge declares an entire law void on the basis of constitutionality, he is hardly likely to issue an order telling states to obey it anyway.
Assuming this isn’t fulfilling some arcane check box on an appeal, what’s the point of asking Vinson to do this? Either Obama’s team doesn’t understand how to read a legal brief — an amusing prospect, but utterly untrue — or they’re trying to delay the appeal a little longer. Perhaps they’re hoping for a few more decisions to go their way in circuit courts before Vinson’s ruling gets reviewed at the next level. Frankly, though, that doesn’t make a lot of sense, either. Except as a political pose, this seems completely futile and meaningless.
It’s another episode in the show about nothing:
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* Whoops, I didn’t mean to breach the rules of the New Civility.™
Related: “Judge to Obama Admin: End the Drilling Permatorium.”
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