King v. Burwell and the Separation of Powers

     On February 5 the New York Times published an op-ed by Linda Greenhouse, a leading commentator on the Supreme Court, entitled The Supreme Court at Stake: Overturning Obamacare Would Change the Nature of the Supreme Court. Greenhouse argues that King v. Burwell, the Affordable Care Act case currently pending in the Supreme Court, involves far more than mere questions of statutory construction and contends that the case has political and constitutional implications that put the Supreme Court itself in peril. I agree, and would add that if the Supreme Court eliminates billions of dollars of tax credits that Congress and the Internal Revenue Service intended to extend to American citizens that it would violate the doctrine of Separation of Powers.