The United States has recently been trying to reduce youth smoking by banning the sale of most flavored cigarettes. This ban resulted in Indonesian tobacco companies that make clove cigarettes bringing a suit to the World Trade Organization and yesterday the WTO ruled against the United States appeal and in favor of the clove tobacco [...]

No matter how the Supreme Court rules on the individual mandate and the Affordable Care Act, I believe this whole case is a great example of the very indirect way we deal with the question of constitutionality of legislation in this country. Instead of waiting years to find out if the Supreme Court will eventually [...]

Over at the New York Magazine Jonathan Chait is arguing that if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act due to the individual mandate, then we can’t count on single payer fixing the situation, because the Court would probably just make up a reason to strike down Medicare for All. But here’s the [...]

If Conservatives get their way and the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate to buy health insurance, it would be a real victory for them; but in the end, the last laugh may be with actual progressives. While in this case an individual mandate was used to expand health coverage, similar individual mandates are [...]

David Weigel and Steve Benen, along with many others, chose to criticize Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for allegedly not knowing what was in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, because Scalia brought up the “Cornhusker Kickback.” From Steve Benen: In this case, Scalia doesn’t seem to realize that the so-called “Cornhusker kickback” wasn’t [...]

In there questions during oral arguments, today, Supreme Court Justices strongly suggested that the 1876 Tax Anti-Injunction Act will not prevent them from ruling on the individual mandate this year.   David Dayen quotes some of the Justices’ questions that indicate they were not persuaded by the tax argument.  That also  appears to be the near [...]

Sean and Ryan Kleier of SofaPundit made this video about “S#*@ Lobbyists Say.”  You can add White House and congressional aides, DNC/DCCC/DSCC staffers, lawyers, consultants, strategists, campaign managers and corporate flaks. It’s painfully on target.  The whole bootlick-to-power class in DC have watched Swimming with Sharks one too many times.  They all think they’re Barry [...]

Apparently Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks one of the world’s most powerful corporations needs to be protected from a single former mid-level employee saying mean things about it. From Bloomberg Businessweek: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)’s headquarters in Manhattan in a show of support after a departing employee publicly [...]

I found the Bloomberg editorial response to Greg Smith’s resignation letter from Goldman Sachs to be so terrible that ironically I think it is a more damning criticism of the current destructive culture on Wall Street than Smith’s original piece. The editors at Bloomberg basically try to paint Smith as naive and stupid, then conclude [...]

The one defense of President Obama I’ve found most annoying is the argument that Obama “only” had the largest Democratic majority in Congress in a generation for a short period, so it would be unreasonable to expect too much from him given Republican opposition. The latest example of this defense comes from Kevin Drum: So [...]