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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Vinson: ‘Stop Me Before I Rule Again’?

Vinson: ‘Stop Me Before I Rule Again’?

by Anne Laurie|  March 3, 201110:30 pm| 46 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)

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IANAL, and therefore have no idea what Judge Vinson is up to here:

Judge Stays Own Ruling Against Health Care Law
__
A federal judge in Florida on Thursday issued a stay of his own ruling against the Obama health care act, allowing the law to remain fully in effect while being appealed, eventually to the Supreme Court.
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The Florida case is one of two in which judges have found a central provision of the law unconstitutional. But it is the only case in which a judge struck down the entire law, and suggested that implementation should halt during an appellate process that could stretch for two years.
__
Judge Roger Vinson of Federal District Court in Pensacola, who ruled on Jan. 31 that the entire law was invalid, issued the stay without a specific request from the Obama administration. The Justice Department, which represents the administration, had asked Judge Vinson to clarify his January ruling, which the judge had characterized as the “functional equivalent” of an injunction to suspend the law.
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The administration did not, however, cease implementation of the law. States took differing approaches, with some effectively ceasing all planning while others continued as if nothing had changed.
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Judge Vinson, his irritation evident, made it clear that he had meant for his ruling to stop the law in its tracks.
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“My order was as clear and unambiguous as it could be,” Judge Vinson wrote. The government, he added, had no right “to basically ignore” his ruling.
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The judge wrote that he had expected the Justice Department to immediately seek a stay of his ruling, and in the name of speeding the appellate process he then saved it the trouble of doing so now…

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Reader Interactions

46Comments

  1. 1.

    hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    March 3, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    Hell hath few furies like that of a federal judge with his knickers in a knot, particularly about a sort of, erm, um, well, partisan ruling.

  2. 2.

    dr. bloor

    March 3, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    As a wise man once said, there is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge.

  3. 3.

    General Stuck

    March 3, 2011 at 10:43 pm

    What an arrogant ass. Too chickenshit to take the responsibility to issue an injunction and be responsible for his wingnut crowd pleasing ruling, but expects to keep his feets from the fire and stomp around that that boy in the WH ought to submit to his white entitlement judgering just because.

    Just enough to give the wurlitzer a talking point to claim the judge expected Obama to heel, you know, without being told to officially which is within the idiot’s power. So now the mouthbreathers can shout OBAMA DEFIES FEDERAL JUDGE. WHAT NEXT, SHARIA!

    I hate these clowns. I could laugh at them all day if they didn’t do so much harm.

  4. 4.

    Wag

    March 3, 2011 at 10:44 pm

    And nothing corners like a rental car

  5. 5.

    Tom Levenson

    March 3, 2011 at 10:49 pm

    @dr. bloor: Ahhhh…thanks for the reminder of that other absent sage.

  6. 6.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    March 3, 2011 at 10:50 pm

    Or, what Stuck said.

  7. 7.

    MikeJ

    March 3, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    And today when reporting on Washington’s efforts to set up a statewide exchange system, KOMO started the package with “implementing a law many think unconstitutional…”

  8. 8.

    Cat Lady

    March 3, 2011 at 11:01 pm

    The government, he added, had no right “to basically ignore” his ruling.

    Then he cut himself and ran away from home.

  9. 9.

    Bubblegum Tate

    March 3, 2011 at 11:06 pm

    @General Stuck:

    So now the mouthbreathers can shout OBAMA DEFIES FEDERAL JUDGE.

    They’ve already been doing that. But now they get to do it with fresh tears running down their cheeks.

  10. 10.

    JGabriel

    March 3, 2011 at 11:07 pm

    NYTimes via Anne Laurie:

    Judge Roger Vinson of Federal District Court in Pensacola, who ruled on Jan. 31 that the entire law was invalid, issued the stay without a specific request from the Obama administration. The Justice Department, which represents the administration, had asked Judge Vinson to clarify his January ruling, which the judge had characterized as the “functional equivalent” of an injunction to suspend the law.

    “Functional equivalent”?

    Not a lawyer, ba-blah-blah, but: It looks to me like Vinson didn’t actually include an injunction in his ruling, and is now trying to retroactively give his ruling the force of an injunction by (on his own*) granting an unrequested “stay” with a short deadline. It seems a bit sketchy, and I don’t know if it’s within his powers to do that or not.

    *There is a legal term for this and I can’t remember what it is. I’m thinking “ex parte” but that’s usually at the request of one side — so I don’t know if that’s the correct term for this situation or not.

    .

  11. 11.

    Dave

    March 3, 2011 at 11:10 pm

    Your acronym at the beginning…god save me for being this juvenile at my age…reads like the title of an erotic novel by Issac Asimov.

  12. 12.

    srv

    March 3, 2011 at 11:11 pm

    @Wag: What’s the difference between a jeep and a rental car?

  13. 13.

    dr. bloor

    March 3, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    @JGabriel:

    There is a legal term for this and I can’t remember what it is.

    I think you’re looking for “he’s got his head up his ass,” although I’m not sure how that translates into Latin.

  14. 14.

    Elisabeth

    March 3, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    Here’s my stupid question of the day ~ what if states wanted to go ahead with planning because they wanted to go ahead with planning. Vermont has been looking at single payer for months, if not years, now so are they supposed to stop for this guy? What’s to stop states from moving ahead on their own anyway?

  15. 15.

    Lurker

    March 3, 2011 at 11:19 pm

    @Elisabeth:

    Vermont has been looking at single payer for months, if not years, now so are they supposed to stop for this guy?

    If I remember correctly, the Affordable Care Act restricts states from implementing their own ideas until 2017. If Judge Vinison gets his wish and repeals the Affordable Care Act, he will have actually removed an obstacle to Vermont implementing single payer before 2017.

  16. 16.

    jeff

    March 3, 2011 at 11:23 pm

    I know Judge Vinson. I really don’t have any insight, though. He was just another dad in Pensacola, though he was a Federal Judge and all. I always thought of him as a man like my own dad: professional, no politics, no ideology. I was clearly wrong. I will say that I’m very surprised that he became an activist judge in his later years, since I thought he took his position more seriously. Being from Pensacola means you probably are friends with Joe Scarborough, witnessed bombings on Women’s Clinics, been knee-deep in BP crude, and have been through countless hurricanes. Nothing good, in other words.It’s actually very pretty, though.

  17. 17.

    timb

    March 3, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    @Cat Lady: Just lovely. Thanks for that.

    The added visual image of him hitchhiking I-95 because the Obama-ites are just so mean made me laugh even more

  18. 18.

    timb

    March 3, 2011 at 11:27 pm

    @Bubblegum Tate: Shouldn’t they add “Defies the ones we like,” since unbeknownst to either the wingnuts or the national media, 3 Federal judges have upheld it on the merits

  19. 19.

    Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen

    March 3, 2011 at 11:36 pm

    Perhaps it is the hour but this is pure wookies on Endor, dancing the can-can while juggling burning chainsaws while ewoks cavort in WETSUITS.

    I also ask you all to consider the fRightwing shriekerey if Judge Virginia Phillips went around waving her gavel and saying “I told you to cut it out!” after she issued an injunction against DADT.

  20. 20.

    Cam

    March 3, 2011 at 11:39 pm

    @JGabriel: The word you are looking for is sua sponte, I believe.

  21. 21.

    JGabriel

    March 3, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    @Cam: YES! Sua sponte.

    It was bugging the hell out of me that I couldn’t remember it. Thank you.

    .

  22. 22.

    Stillwater

    March 3, 2011 at 11:48 pm

    Vinson must have realized that he was on the wrong side of … something. History? The SC? The ‘establishment’? It was a political stunt to begin with, and the acrobatics continue.

  23. 23.

    Cacti

    March 4, 2011 at 12:04 am

    “Roger Vinson has made his ruling, now let him enforce it.”

  24. 24.

    Cacti

    March 4, 2011 at 12:06 am

    @timb:

    Shouldn’t they add “Defies the ones we like,” since unbeknownst to either the wingnuts or the national media, 3 Federal judges have upheld it on the merits

    Or the fact that US District Courts are all equal in jurisdiction and authority to one another.

  25. 25.

    Ash Can

    March 4, 2011 at 12:09 am

    Um, wtf? What the fuckety fuck? How exactly is it that one lousy federal judge has the power to decide which federal laws will and will not be implemented? What am I missing here? How is this not every possible kind of bogus? Or does this guy just think he’s Napoleon Fucking Bonaparte and needs to have a net thrown over him and get carted away?

  26. 26.

    Xenos

    March 4, 2011 at 12:34 am

    Someone needs to check the federal rules… does filing a motion for clarification delay the deadline for an appeal?

    I am sure there is a logical reason for the strategy the DOJ is following here, such as preferring to appeal a ruling on the motion for clarification rather than appealing the decision Vinson issued the first time around. This pisses off Vinson, who wanted his carefully crafted wingnuttery to be appealed and then picked up sooner or later by the USSC as it was written, not messed up with pointed questions from the DOJ that he has to answer, all tied into the appeal record. This is all about framing the issues for the appeal, and Vinson needs to control that, and the DOJ is trying to outmaneuver him.

    I think the DOJ is jerking him around, and using his decision to make him look stupid, and it is pissing him off. Good.

  27. 27.

    JGabriel

    March 4, 2011 at 12:44 am

    @Xenos:

    I think the DOJ is jerking him around, and using his decision to make him look stupid, and it is pissing him off. Good.

    Yep, I think so too. Good for them.

    .

  28. 28.

    gocart mozart

    March 4, 2011 at 12:48 am

    @JGabriel:

    *There is a legal term for this and I can’t remember what it is. I’m thinking “ex parte” but that’s usually at the request of one side — so I don’t know if that’s the correct term for this situation or not

    Sua sponte is the term you are looking for.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sua_sponte

  29. 29.

    mak

    March 4, 2011 at 1:43 am

    What Xenos said. Vinson wants to fast track his decision to the 11th Circuit, so his buddies in Atlanta can quickly agree with him that Obamacare is soshulizm and, in so doing, be the first Court of Appeals in the US to decide on the Constitutionality of the Act. It would make a big splash in the media (“highest court in the land to decide so far – and they say it’s illegal!) and set a fire under the other Circuit Courts to decide quickly, which would in turn get it to the Supremes that much faster – before Roberts can stroke out or Scalia’s arteries finally shut him down.
    The DOJ has appealed where it wanted to appeal, when it wanted to. The request for clarification (it doesn’t even sound like a motion per se, but just a request) had the effect of slow-walking the appeal of his decision. And since Vinson didn’t have the guts to actually issue an injunction, but instead simply claims that his order was the “functional equivalent,” well, fuck him, I’d ask for a clarification, too, especially if it has the added effect of getting his panties in a bunch.
    him that ObamaCare is soshulizm and therefore illegal

  30. 30.

    mak

    March 4, 2011 at 1:49 am

    FFWP. Strike the last line immediately above. FWP.

  31. 31.

    ODB

    March 4, 2011 at 1:56 am

    Another bizarre thing is that he ordered the DOJ to ask for an expedited appeal — or else. Since when do district judge’s tell the court of appeals how quickly they have to decide an appeal? If the DOJ asks for an expedited appeal and the 11th Circuit denies the request, then what? Is Vinson going to start enjoining the appellate court too?

  32. 32.

    dollared

    March 4, 2011 at 2:05 am

    Our friend Judge Vinson also appears to have a hard time hiring a good law clerk, or this wouldn’t have had to happen. Too bad Clarence Thomas already has a job.

  33. 33.

    Xenos

    March 4, 2011 at 2:14 am

    @mak: It is an interesting question as to whether the DOJ really has to appeal the Vinson ruling, since appeals are progressing elsewhere and the case is headed to the USSC anyway. If ignoring Vinson makes him release even more painfully illogical rulings, then all the better. This is really advanced procedural jujitsu in any case, and way above my knowledge.

  34. 34.

    JGabriel

    March 4, 2011 at 2:35 am

    @gocart mozart: Thanks, gocart mozart. Cam hit it above at #20, too.

    .

  35. 35.

    jetan

    March 4, 2011 at 3:35 am

    The guy is a punk District Judge…..the lowest rung on the legal food chain (except for me). This was his one opportunity to make a splashy ruling and he went for it. Pure sideshow, like the clowns that precede the acrobats.

  36. 36.

    DBrown

    March 4, 2011 at 6:02 am

    Judge Vinson is beyond ass licking the crusty shit bat shit insane. This mentally ill and dangerous lunatic needs to be removed ASAP. This nutcase believes their single ruling over turns all other established law/rulings and not just for his microscopic judicial reach but the entire nation. Never has, in the course of human history, has there been anyone so dumb with so little grasp of the law or reality been empowered to rule upon narrow law and yet not been removed by all possible means … un-believable and inexcusable. Even for a typical thug this ass licking, needs to eat shit and die insane judge sets a new standard.

  37. 37.

    Sebastian Dangerfield

    March 4, 2011 at 7:38 am

    @ODB: I know! I’ll issue a “stay” against my non-injunction but its only good as long as you ask the 11th Circuit to expedite the case. Cuz, that mandate — which does not kick in for years — is somehow injuring people right now.

    I would love to write the motion. “At the insistence of a district judge who does not know the difference between a declaratory judgment and an injunction, we are asking that this court expedite the appeal, notwithstanding that this case presents a novel and fundamental question of constitutional law that could affect a major piece of national legislation. If we can think of a good reason to support this request, we will supplement our filing accordingly.”

  38. 38.

    Sebastian Dangerfield

    March 4, 2011 at 7:59 am

    If I’m DoJ, this is what I’d do: Comply with the stupid 7-day deadline and appeal. I’m sure they would like to wait out the whole appeal period, but I’d bite that bullet. Despite how amusing it would be to write a motion along the lines I laid out above, I would not ask the 11th Circuit to expedite. At that point, the case is in the court of appeals, and Vinson has no authority to act. Vinson will then throw a shit fit and demand that the administration respect his authoritah, saying DoJ violated the terms of his stay and that he’s un-staying his non-injunction. DoJ then asks the 11th Circuit for a stay. And Vinson makes himself look even more foolish and preening.

  39. 39.

    soonergrunt

    March 4, 2011 at 8:34 am

    @Elisabeth: This judge’s jurisdiction does not include Vermont.
    If Vermont wants to do something he doesn’t like, he can go pound sand.

  40. 40.

    kay

    March 4, 2011 at 8:48 am

    @Lurker:

    If I remember correctly, the Affordable Care Act restricts states from implementing their own ideas until 2017. If Judge Vinison gets his wish and repeals the Affordable Care Act, he will have actually removed an obstacle to Vermont implementing single payer before 2017.

    This is way off. The single reason Vermont may be able to institute single payer is because they will receive federal funding to set up and maintain a state-wide program under the ACA. The same is true for Oregon. The ACA sends funding to states to subsidize a plan (Medicaid or any other mechanism) for those individuals who can’t afford it.
    Bernie Sanders needs the funding without the strings, which is absolutely fair play, but if the ACA goes down, it all goes down. Vermont would have set up single payer a long time ago if they could have funded it with state-generated revenue. Vermont is just way ahead of the game because they addressed the real problem with delivery of primary care in this country, which is not the payment mechanism, but that health care costs too much. They went big on community health centers, (COSTS!)so they’re in a good position to go to the next step.
    Massachusetts is now addressing COSTS too. They got there (and it’s inevitable, we’ll all get there) by FIRST insuring everyone, and then addressing costs. Contrast that with Vermont, where they went right to delivery of health care.
    The Obama approach is like Massachusetts, but on a national scale. First, universal payment mechanism, then address costs of care.

  41. 41.

    kay

    March 4, 2011 at 8:58 am

    @Lurker:

    Further, be aware that there’s risk with a state-by-state approach (waiver prior to 2017). Theoretically, conservative states can come up with any set of ideas as long as they 1. cover as many people, and 2. cover as many people completely.
    Obama is betting they can’t do that. I think it’s a safe bet, judging from Mitch Daniels’ attempt in Indiana, Healthy Indiana, which is a failure. He ran into three huge problems with the conservative approach: adverse selection, unaffordable premiums and co-pays, and the fact that “consumer-directed” health care (Health Savings Accounts, which are included in Healthy Indiana) don’t seem to impact consumer behavior on health care usage, despite the fervent conservative belief that people frivolously and recklessly visit the doctor, that isn’t proving to be true in Indiana.

  42. 42.

    Lurker

    March 4, 2011 at 10:23 am

    @kay:

    This is way off. The single reason Vermont may be able to institute single payer is because they will receive federal funding to set up and maintain a state-wide program under the ACA. The same is true for Oregon. The ACA sends funding to states to subsidize a plan (Medicaid or any other mechanism) for those individuals who can’t afford it.

    Ah. Thanks for correcting my mistake — I did not realize that the “Waiver for State Innovation” meant redirection of federal funds provided by the Affordable Care Act.

  43. 43.

    NonyNony

    March 4, 2011 at 11:01 am

    @kay:

    He ran into three huge problems with the conservative approach: adverse selection, unaffordable premiums and co-pays, and the fact that “consumer-directed” health care (Health Savings Accounts, which are included in Healthy Indiana) don’t seem to impact consumer behavior on health care usage

    He also ran into the problem that the “conservative approach” that they spent the 90s building up is actually embodied in the ACA – which “conservatives” now reject as “sociamalism”.

    We’re already taking about the most conservative approach we can take to fixing the health care issue. Anything less than that is basically “doing nothing” or worse “giving taxpayers money to companies for no good reason”. Which, granted, is a “conservative approach” but not one that is likely to fix anything.

  44. 44.

    NonyNony

    March 4, 2011 at 11:02 am

    @NonyNony:

    Damn it I meant sociamalism not something to embiggen the male anatomy!

  45. 45.

    grandpajohn

    March 4, 2011 at 11:23 am

    @Xenos:

    I think the DOJ is jerking him around, and using his decision to make him look stupid, and it is pissing him off. Good.
    ReplyRepl

    the looking stupid part was his own accomplishment without any help

  46. 46.

    priscianus jr

    March 4, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    @JGabriel:

    There is a legal term for this and I can’t remember what it is. I’m thinking “ex parte” but that’s usually at the request of one side — so I don’t know if that’s the correct term for this situation or not.

    I wonder if the term you’re looking for isn’t “sua sponte.” INAL, but I do know a bit of Latin.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sua_sponte

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