Now, I haven't been to church in decades, but when this morning's good news from the Supreme Court was announced, Edwin Hawkins' Oh, Happy Day was immediately running through my mind.
I love gospel music and some times, like this morning, nothing else captures the joy, relief, and thankfulness of the moment.
I also love our own Brainwrap who for six months worked heroically, explaining to all who would listen what it would mean for millions if the Supreme Court struck down the ACA.
Paul Krugman was one who listened and had this to say today.
King (v Burwell) is dead, 6-3. Whew. I’ve been tuned in to SCOTUSblog, sort of watching out of the corner of my eye — and it’s too early for a drink! The invaluable Charles Gaba seems to be having his own reaction:
BREAKING: DECISION IS IN!!
6-3 FOR THE GOVERNMENT, PLAINTIFFS LOSE!!
SUBSIDIES TO CONTINUE IN ALL 50 STATES (+DC)
& I'VE JUST WASTED THE PAST SIX MONTHS OF MY LIFE.
No, you haven’t — reminding everyone of the incredible harm from a bad ruling surely played some role in the good news.
Importantly, the court didn’t even allow wiggle room for a future Tea Party president to decide to cut off the money.
A very big day.
"A very big day," indeed. A very happy day, for millions.
So let the good times roll. We're over due for a happy day. Let the music play as we march on, bending the arc of the moral universe towards justice.
Update: To make the day even sweeter -
Justice Anthony Kennedy Just Saved a Major Civil Rights Law
Protests in Baltimore and Ferguson may have helped protect the Fair Housing Act.
Congress passed the Fair Housing Act (FHA) to end pervasive segregation against the backdrop of urban race riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. On Thursday, mere months after riots exploded in Ferguson and Baltimore, the Supreme Court narrowly upheld the law's most powerful tool for fighting segregation.
The decision was a welcome surprise to civil rights advocates who had feared that the conservative-leaning court under Chief Justice John Roberts—the same court that struck down part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act two years ago—was set to undo another major civil rights law.
In a five-to-four decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the court's liberal wing to uphold so-called "disparate impact" liability, preserving the law's authority to root out policies that have a discriminatory effect on minorities. Under the FHA, policies that have a harmful effect—a disparate impact—on minorities are illegal, even if that harm was unintentional. For decades, disparate impact has been vital to fighting segregation in housing because of the difficulty in proving purposeful discrimination...