A minute-by-minute account of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the American Care Act, and how some news organizations initially got it wrong:
Into his conference call, the CNN producer says (correctly) that the Court has held that the individual mandate cannot be sustained under the Commerce Clause, and (incorrectly) that it therefore ‘looks like’ the mandate has been struck down. The control room asks whether they can ‘go with’ it, and after a pause, he says yes.
The Fox producer reads the syllabus exactly the same way, and reports that the mandate has been invalidated. Asked to confirm that the mandate has been struck down, he responds: ‘100%.’
The Bloomberg team finishes its review, having read the Commerce Clause holding and then turned the page to see that the Court accepted the government’s alternative argument that the individual mandate is constitutional under Congress’s tax power. At 10:07:32 – 52 seconds after the Chief Justice began speaking – Bloomberg issues an alert: ’OBAMA’S HEALTH-CARE OVERHAUL UPHELD BY U.S.SUPREME COURT.’ Bloomberg is first, and it is right.
“We’re Getting Wildly Differing Assessments.” — Tom Goldstein, SCOTUSblog
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