and everyone laughed.

This decision will be made by people that get all their news from Fox News. Actually Fox news is probably too advanced for Clarence Thomas, he probably just listens to RW radio.

Could the Obama admin. be setting a trap for them, like they have in other situations where we thought they weren't paying attention and let the Pugs get by with their shenanigans, only to see Obama was playing chess again? That would be SO cool if they were.

This SOTUS has got to go down as the most corrupt/biased court in my lifetime.

and Kneedler acted appropriately for not correcting scalia.

The more liberal, and probably even Roberts and Kennedy, would not correct him in order to allow him to save face. They probably mentioned it in the privacy of chambers ... right after they lambasted him for that "You expect me to actually read the law that I am about to rule on" comment.

Kneedler couldn't correct scalia without incurring his wrath.

Nothing good comes from correcting an arrogant idiot in public.

He's not going to vote to uphold the law anyhow, so why not incur his wrath?

Just like I keep complaining every time Obama tries to mollify the radical right: they won't vote for you anyhow so don't give in to them.

God, I hate looking at that man's face and hearing his crappy comments...

What IS "The Cornhusker Kickback?"

Next person that ever says that deserves to be hit in the face with a brick.

Both useless pieces of feces.

with that. I thought Supreme Court Justices were supposed to be separate from politics and hence not part of the "political class." Therein lies the problem, as they no longer appear a-political and therefore ruling without bias and prejudice. A great disservice is being perpetrated on the American citizenry, IMO.

he will lie, do what ever it takes to help his corporate handlers and ruin our country. Its what he does best.

Really. Make an offer.

I first noticed how arrogant he was during the Bush v. Gore hearing that was broadcast on radio. But when he went duck hunting with Dick Cheney on the eve of sitting in judgment of a case involving private meetings of Cheney's energy task force, he just blew me away when his official response to questions about his failure to recuse himself was "quack - quack". Scalia apparently doesn't give a damn about how his behavior reflects upon the Supreme Court as an institution.

for his example.

This is not a defense of Scalia, its a defense of the other Justices and of the lawyers for the government. Scalia was actually making a point that helped the administration's case --he was making the point that its dangerous for the court to get too deeply involved in trying to second guess Congress when it comes to deciding whether or not to invalidate an entire law when some parts of it have been struck down. His example was intended to illustrate that passing legislation involves horse trading -- that you can have provisions that are unrelated to the heart of the legislation that are enacted as a way of getting enough votes. If you frame the question as requiring the court to look provision by provision at whether the bill as a whole would have been enacted, you end up with absurd results where you always have to invalidate an entire law because every provision, no matter how peripheral, arguably was important in getting someone to vote for the law. That argument was echoed by the liberal wing of the court as well.

Both sides are just going through the motions. The end result has already been determined.

After the law is overturned in August, the case will be used in the election campaigns by both parties.

The best job in the world for those justices. Do you really think they're paying ANY attention to arguments? The block of 5 already know how they're going to vote.

it is hard to find the best idiot

The Forefathers could not perceive that people appointed to the Supreme Court would make their decisions solely based on the political persuasions. However, they were honorable men and men of character a virtue that has been lost especially by the rabid Republicans that dominate the present court.