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'Would Supreme Court Rule Unconstitutional Law Passed with Slaughter Solution?'

Would Supreme Court rule unconstitutional law passed with Slaughter Solution?

By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
03/15/10 4:21 PM EDT

Democrats in Congress might want to re-read the 1998 Supreme Court decision Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 before moving forward with the Slaughter Solution to pass President Obama's health care reform bill. That decision is chiefly remembered today for holding a federal version of the line-item veto as unconstitutional.

The reason, according to Amy Ridenour at the National Center Blog, is that the Justice John Paul Stevens articulated in the majority opinion the precise rationale for a similar ruling against legislation passed using the Slaughter Solution.

Ridenour notes that Stevens wrote:

"...our decision rests on the narrow ground that the procedures authorized by the Line Item Veto Act are not authorized by the Constitution. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 is a 500-page document that became 'Public Law 105--33' after three procedural steps were taken:

"(1) a bill containing its exact text was approved by a majority of the Members of the House of Representatives; (2) the Senate approved precisely the same text; and (3) that text was signed into law by the President. The Constitution explicitly requires that each of those three steps be taken before a bill may 'become a law.' Art. I, Section 7.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Would-Supreme-Court-rule-unconstitutional-law-passed-with-Slaughter-Solution-87685887.html

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