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Arguments that are expected to be used by both sides before the U.S. Supreme Court on the health care law. At the heart of this is the 1942 decision, Wickard v. Filburn, on the limits of federal power. Mr. Filburn, was an Ohio farmer who questioned a 1938 federal law that imposed a penalty on every extra bushel of wheat on his farm beyond the stipulated amount. The decision was unanimous and went against Filburn. At issue is whether the federal government can impose a penalty on individuals for not buying health insurance. Justice Robert Jackson wrote in that case: "Even if appellee's activity be local, and though it may not be regarded as commerce, it may still, whatever its nature, be reached by Congress, if it exerts a substantial economic effect on commerce." The Obama administration's argument in its brief is that the decision of individuals not to buy insurance, like that of Filburn to plant that extra bushel, has larger effects beyond the local one and serious consequences for the whole country- it raises insurance rates of people in states across the country and makes hospitals bear the burden of caring for these uninsured people. For over 50 years the Supreme Court has largely supported the idea behind the Filburn decision, except in 1995 and 2000- these two decision invalidated laws made about guns near schools and violence against women. The Court ruled that the activities were local and noncommercial and beyond the federal power to regulate interstate commerce....

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India's Supreme Court dismissed petitions challenging the validity of the Army's Agnipath recruitment scheme for recruiting soldiers for a period of 4 years. A bench led by Chief Justice Chandrachud said "there was nothing for us to do in the Delhi High Court judgement." That Delhi High Court judgement called the Agnipath scheme "a well thought out one." In its February 27 judgement the Delhi High Court said: "A perusal of material on record shows that the scheme is a well thought out policy decision of the Government of India. The candidates selected under the impugned scheme would be enrolled as Agniveers, a distinct rank in the Indian Armed Forces.

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This WSJ Editorial Board piece asks -Was it a near miss that the results of the 2022 presidential elections that elected Joe Biden were upheld, as the Jan. 6 Committee says? WSJ says the country was lucky to have vice president Mike Pence to uphold it, but is lucky enough, what about the chaotic nature of such an event? WSJ says even if vice president Mike Pence and attorney general William Barr not upheld the result, majorities in the Electoral College would have done so. If that failed the Speaker Nancy Pelosi would have not convened Congress for a count, and the Supreme Court would have voted 9-0 to uphold the result. "The country was lucky to have had these men in office," says the WSJ Editorial Board. But consider the chaotic nature of such an event, and the chaos for the world of such an event. Did Washington and Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR, depend on luck to tackle foreign wars, civil wars, depressions?

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Supreme Court protects parent opt out of LGBTQ stories and requiring age verification for porn sites. Texas was where the civil rights movement got its support from president LBJ, a Democrat and FDR follower. And still Texas vote for the age verification for porn sites was voted for with support being 164-1. Yet Elena Kagan, who was a Harvard legal scholar, now Supreme Court Justice did not support this decision, and offered a flaky and irresponsible dissent- “Carefully drawn age verification laws stand a real chance of surviving.” What about the harm done to minors while the scholars quibble about legal writing. Kagan was in elite schools all her life, Hunter high school in NYC, Princeton Worcester Oxford, Harvard Law School,  and deputy assistant to Clinton, before Clinton's economic aide Summers picked her for Harvard Law School Dean, and Obama picked her for SC Justice. In 2025 these elitist backgrounds have failed, and are failing to address the problems of the Nation in a direct common sense way as faced by ordinary Americans and even by the 164 of 165 members of the Texas state legislature, which is saying a lot. A search shows failure of Google and of AI after search of 10 pages on Google no mention is found that the vote in Texas legislature was 164 to 1. Parents have to protect their rights and 22 states are now passing this law. ...

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The Pakistan Supreme Court decides not to impose a prison term on prime minister Gilani for not pursuing a corruption investigation of President Zardari, opening the way for the present government to complete its five years in office. This has placed severe strains on the government in Pakistan. The next step appears to be early elections, probably in October-December 2012, ahead of the end of this government's term in office in March 2013.

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Ram Nath Kovind is selected by the BJP party as its candidate for President of India. Kovind is a lawyer practicing before the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, former member of the upper house Rajya Sabha for 12 years. He was appointed Governor of Bihar in 2014.

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The Nebraska Supreme Court reverses a lower court ruling clearing a hurdle for construction of the Keystone pipeline. At about the same time the U.S. House of Representatives voted 266 to 153 in Jan. 2014 to pass a bill approving the project. It will pass a Senate vote. President Obama says he will veto the bill. The pressure clearly increases on Obama to approve the pipeline.

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The 2018 Supreme Court decision allowing sports gambling and betting has serious negative consequences for sports in America by 2024. So much so that the NCAA president Charlie Baker has called for a nationwide ban on the bets on the performance of college athletes. WSJ says a nightmare scenario emerged from the experience of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player Shohei Ohtani and the betting scandal related to his interpreter.

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Kamala Harris at the Kavanaugh hearings during confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court for Brett Kavanaugh. She was senator from California on the Senate Judicairy Committee. In an ardent, clearly comprehending, and mindful voice Harris asked Kavanaugh :

“Can you think of any laws,” she asked the nominee, “that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?” Kavanaugh was speechless.

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This WSJ editorial describes the choices facing states in the U.S. for Medicaid- staying in and increasing the strain on state budgets or opting out altogether from Medicaid when hospitals in the states have enlarged their Medicaid dependent programs- as being a kind of extortion. Justice Kennedy said this was not giving the states much of an option, and Justice Scalia described it with a Jack Benny humor quote about being held up by a robber saying "your money or your life." Justice Roberts described the overwillingness of states to accept federal funds that got them to this point. The overall sense of the hearings at the U.S. Supreme Court on the third day, was that of skepticism on the part of Justices Scalia, Alito, Kennedy and Roberts, leaving Solicitor General Verrilli to make an appeal to humanitarian and patriotic sentiment about millions of the poor who would go without medical care if the Court ruled against the government.

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A law professor at George Washington University, who also comes from an Sicilian Italian American family, writes about his encounters with Scalia showing passionate opinion and steadfastness. Scalia was educated at Xavier Jesuit high school, and Georgetown University. He remained true to his conservative beliefs about the the law over three decades since his appointment by president Reagan in 1986, and an originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution as the framers in the eighteenth century had intended. He is the first Italian American Supreme Court Justice, a fact that enabled him to win approval in the Senate 98-0.

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The Supreme Court of India cancelled the 122 telecom licenses issued by the government in 2008 at below market prices and called for a new auction in 4 months. It said the permits were given in a manner "arbitrary, capricious and contrary to public interest," and declared them "illegal and quashed."

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This NYT Editorial says now that the debt ceiling agreement is reached between president Biden and Kevin McCarthy of the Republicans it should be passed quickly in the US Congress. It points out the need to consider the use of the 14th Amendment in the future- by getting some idea of how the Supreme Court views the use of this action- to prevent another debt ceiling negotiation like this one in 2025 when this agreement ends.

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Pakistan follows other countries by making vaccination mandatory for all public sector workers. Pakistan also requires vaccination to go to airports. France and some other countries in Europe have taken this action to prevent spread of the Delta variant.

According to the US Census Bureau 3.6 million Americans say they face eviction in 2 months as the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to end suspension of evictions July 31, 2021.

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The U.S. Supreme Court by a vote of 7-2 struck down a California law that bans the sale of violent videogames to children. Writing the majority opinion Justice Scalia said "even when children are the object the constitutional limits of governmental action apply." Breyer dissented by saying that it made no sense to not allow a child to see a nude picture woman under obscenity laws and yet allow the child to see violent acts against women. Clarence Thomas was the other justice in the dissent. Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Ginsberg, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor supported the decision to allow violent videogames to be sold to children. Justice Alito supported the decision but expressed serious reservations about the breadth of the majority's opinion saying- " the Court is far too quick to dismiss the possibility that the experience of playing videogames (and the effects on minors of playing violent videogames) may be very different from anything we have seen before."

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UnitedHealthcare says it will keep parts of the healthcare law relating to preventive healthcare services without co-payments, allowing parents to keep children on insurance till age of 26, even if the Supreme Court rules against the healthcare law. Most insurers see these parts of the law that are popular quite favorably.

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The arguments of both sides in front of U.S. Supreme Court Justices on the Health Care Law's expansion of Medicaid. Justice Scalia said the law gives the states no choice. Justice Kennedy pointed to the situation of the states which have no way to opt out without stripping millions of Americans of medical care. Justice Roberts pointed to the states willingness to accept federal aid for years which brings us to the current situation. The attorney generals of 27 states have objected to the Health Care Law's provisions which they believe effectively requires the states suffering tight budget constraints to cover more of the poor than they they think they can, with the alternative being dropping out of Medicaid totally, not giving them much of a choice. As the three day hearing came to a close on March 28, 2012, the Supreme Court's conservative Justices expressed doubts whether the Obama Health Care Law could surivive if some key parts are struck down. With Justices Sotomayor, Ginsberg, Kagan, on one side, and Scalia, with other conservative Justices on the other side, the Court's final decision depends on Justices Kennedy and Roberts. ...

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India's Supreme Court ruled that Vodafone PLC does not owe $2.2 billion in taxes on the acquisition of a majority stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd. The Indian tax authorites were directed to return 25 billion rupees ($500 million) which Vodafone had deposited. With declining foreign investment in India and a lower growth rate of about 7%, this tax case had assumed larger significance. The Supreme Court decision emphasized that taxing Vodafone "would amount to imposing capital punishment for capital investment." Vodafone had difficulties in its Indian operations- a $3.4 billion impairment charge in May 2010 because of strong competition. Vodafone is estimated to have invested $26 billion in India since 2007, and in the fiscal year ending March 2011 showed only $115 million in profit on sales of $3.86 billion.

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Gerard Baker in the WSJ says the abortion rulings of the Supreme Court and the Inflation Reduction Act, Climate Change bills have energized Democrats. He says that as the chances of president Trump running as the nominee of the Republican party in 2024 increased in August, the electoral prospects for Congress of the Republican party have diminished. He says the Mar-a-lago taking of documents by FBI and investigation are also now seen as part of national security issues.

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The large 11 point margin for State Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, a Democrat, shows the effect of the issues of women's rights to abortion and of democracy are having in the state. She promised to use the new 4-3 majority in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court to nullify Wisconsin's 1849 abortion ban and overturn the state's gerrymandered Republican friendly legislative maps. It also shows the changes in the midwestern states. In Chicago Brandon Johnson came from behind to win the Mayoral election calling for new taxes and a vast program of social programs, in addition to a community involvement effort to fight crime over a candidate that focussed on the crime issue and policing. Happening in the same week these two elections give president Biden  more confidence going into the 2024 campaign that people in the midwestern states understand Mr. Biden's approach of investing in people and infrastructure with higher taxes, and rebuilding American manufacturing and technology, protecting worker rights and incomes. ...

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Judicial interpretation of India's Constitution enables upward mobility, building the infrastructure that supports upward mobility without leakage of funds, and world social justice, says Chief Justice of India's Supreme Court D.Y. Chandrachud. He was giving the Nani Palkhivala Memorial Lecture in Mumbai.  Prime minister Modi could not pursue India's rapid development program to benefit all parts of society without the help of the Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution in a way that supports India's development. "The identity of the Indian Constitution has evolved through the interaction of Indian citizens with the Constitution and has been accompanied by judicial interpretation... If you look at the Constitution, it does not favor unbounded economic liberalism. Rather, our Constitution seeks to find the right balance. When individuals can exercize their liberties and to be fairly rewarded for their efforts, then economic justice becomes one of the many inter-related dimensions of life. Ultimately, we share common faiths and destinies to the point that development of each individual fosters social justice in the entire world." "The basic structure doctrine of India's Constitution is that it guides and gives certain direction to its interpreters and implementers, when the path is convoluted. The craftsmanship of a judge lies in interpreting the text of the Constitution with the changing times while keeping its soul intact." This happened when Nani Palkhivala presented the idea before the Supreme Court in 1973 against prime minister Indira Gandhi's Emergency rule that parliament had limits to its powers when it came to amending the Constitution if by amending it the amendment would destroy the spirit of the Constitution or its basic idea. This includes freedom of expression, rule of law, separation of powers, freedoms guaranteed to all citizens. The amending power is limited and cannot be turned into an absolute power. Another way of looking at it is that parliament itself is organized by statutory authority. And it cannot destroy or dismantle the very basic features of the law (the Constitution) that created it in the first place.     ...

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The Indian prime minister reviewed progress of the vaccination drive. On July 26, in the last 6 days about 38 million doses of vaccine have been adminstered in India. In a separate affidavit to the Supreme Court the government laid out its plan for making enough vaccine supplies to vaccinate the entire population over 18 by December 31, 2021, over 940 million people requiring over 1880 million doses.  "Out of this requirement for 1880 million doses 516 million doses will be made available by July 31, 2021, in about 34 days. The remaining 1350 million doses for complete vaccination to the eligible population" says the government information provided to the Supreme Court. The breakdown of vaccine supplies manufacturing is also given to SC. Of the total of 1350 million vaccine doses the following is how it will be manufactured in India in the next 6 months. Covishield  vaccine     500 million Covaxin vaccine          400 million Bio E Subunit vaccine  300 million Zydus Cadila DNA vaccine  50 million Sputnik V  vaccine          100 million The government told the Supreme Court that the procurement of Bio E Subunit vaccine and Zydus Cadila DNA vaccine will be subject to approval that is expected in the near future. From this new vaccine supplies picture it is clear that Covaxin and Bio E Unit will play a major part in the second half of 2021 in vaccinating India's entire population with 2 doses. This would be a historic achievement for the federal government after the lessons learned and the action taken with a new vaccine supplies policy for India in June 2021. There is also the challenge to be overcome of maintaining the vaccination drive at 6-8 million doses a day which would be another historic achievement for the federal and state, and local governments in India working with community education and logistical setup, medical staff.  ...

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The Supreme Court upheld the provision under an Arizona state law that requires police to check the immigration status of people stopped for traffic and other offenses. By a vote of 6-2 the Supreme Court voided the provision that made it a state crime to fail to carry federal registration papers. By a vote of 5-3 it voided the provision that provided for jail time for immigrants not carrying federal registration papers. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion that includes Justices Roberts, Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomayor, and said: "The government of the United States has broad, undoubted power over the subject of immigration and the status of aliens... Immigration policy can affect trade, investment, tourism and diplmatic relations for the entire nation." At the same time Justice Kennedy said " the problems posed to the State by illegal immigration must not be underestimated," saying that "unauthorized aliens, were responsible for a disproportionate share of serious crime." Unauthorized aliens are only 8.9% of the population of Maricopa County which includes Pheonix, but caused 21.8% of the felonies. The part of the Arizona law SB 1070 that stated the illegal immigrant seeking work was commiting a crime, was struck down on the grounds that this "would interfere with the careful balance struck by Congress" for the labor market in which only employers are committing a crime. Justice Kennedy reminded the country that it was still a nation of immigrants....