Page 2 - Severability Clause News Today

Under congress power to regulate congress. that means the mandate is gone. well take a look and ill try to get to the rest of it. we are going to get to severability. bill: we talked about the fog of law, and to our viewers at home, be patient with us as we work through this. megyn youre seeing something now. megyn: we are getting conflicting information. as we follow scotus blog.com which covers the high court they say despite what shannon just read that the individual mandate is surviving as a...

Statute which is not there. >> and the severability clause was in the original obamacare legislation. that was removed. thats a clear indication of legislative intent, that congress, this body, decided if one part of the bill was declared unconstitutional, the individual mandate, the whole bill would fall. so its pretty clear, its pretty black and white, if the supreme court finds the individual plan date is unconstitutional, then nor part of the bill should survive. >> do y anticipate no matter...

Unconstitutional. i have to read through this. there is limitation on it. the severability clause only came into effect, as least as i understand it if the individual mandate clause were declared unconstitutional. then the question the court would have to consider is do we toss the whole statute out. obviously that did not happen. bill: greta, what is your view, 25 minutes into this on the point that bret was making a moment ago, about chief justice john roberts? >> well i could say rather flip,...

Statute which is not there. >> and the severability clause was in the original obamacare legislation. that was removed. thats a clear indication of legislative intent, that congress, this body, decided if one part of the bill was declared unconstitutional, the individual mandate, the whole bill would fall. so its pretty clear, its pretty black and white, if the supreme court finds the individual plan date is unconstitutional, then nor part of the bill should survive. >> do you anticipate no matt...

The supreme court as far as i can conclude reading this very voluminous desist, this is a tax, and congress can tax. huge win for the obama administration. bigger win for the lawyers, they sat back while the politicians said this wasnt a tax. it was the lawyers that went in and said this is a tax enabling the court here to agree with them and say its a tax. bill: we went through four questions posed to the court one hour ago. one of them on severability, greta apparently was never even addressed...

Of those four do you believe the supremes address all of them, one of them or perhaps two or three? >> i think they, bill, i think they address all of them. but the big mystery is what are they going to say on each one of them. you know, thats the fascinating part. i actually think if i were to pick which one two do i like the most, its the whole issue of severability, and let me explain what that is. its that when congress passes a statute, it usually includes whats called a severability clause...

Want by and large the obama bill to pass in the first place, they will be back here immediately saying we have to fix these other pieces of it because you cant just force us to cover people when they get sick. we have to do something to meet the economics. >> i still dont know how the supreme court can throw out just the plan date without a severability clause in the statute to throw out the whole thing. but i dont know. they may uphold it, i have no idea. they get to do exactly what they want, ...

Act which goes back to the 1870s and, specifically, it asks whether or not a taxation provision can prevent a court challenge until the law is fully in effect meaning are you taxed yet, and if you are not, can the judges rule on that? >> basically, is it right to decide today or do they have to wait until later? bill: and that could be 2014 or beyond. item number two, the commerce clause. dealing directly with the mandate. >> basically, can the congress force individuals to engage in commerce as...

Severability wish the bill? >> experts i talk to say yes, the congress did not include severability clause. the experts i talk to said the supreme court will do what it wants to do. >> bret: no matter what. >> yeah. they will not do something because congress for whatever reason didnt put that clause in. >> bret: mara? >> i think anything that is overturned is a bad day for the president. although, the one case i can imagine is if the mandate overturned and the two issues connected to it, commun...

Sotomayor. >> i think theres a likelihood that those who obtained insurance up to this date may be okay. >> harris: grandfathered in. >> will not be retroactive, but well have to see the language of the opinion. and the larger is the severability. to put it in english, this law did not have a severability clause. what that means, if a court strikes down a portion of it the rest can stand. and its generally accepted that if theres no such clause, then it cant be the case. however, tricky footnote...