Linda Greenhouse finds it “profoundly depressing” that “conservative justices” have purportedly engaged in a “naked power grab” by granting review (in King v. Burwell) of the Fourth Circuit’s decision on Obamacare’s exchange subsidies. But as the Volokh Conspiracy’s Orin Kerr explains, there was “good reason to grant” in the case, and Greenhouse’s “stated rationale [is] puzzling because there are instances of the Court granting cert absent a split or an emergency when Greenhouse apparently hasn’t found the grant at all objectionable”:

Consider the cert petition in Lawrence v. Texas, which did not allege a split or claim an emergency. The Court granted cert even though the petition did not meet the usual criteria for cert. When Greenhouse has written about Lawrence, she hasn’t lamented the cert grant as a “power grab” (naked or otherwise) that ruined her faith in the Supreme Court. Instead she has celebrated what a wonderful moment it was when the Court handed down its opinion.

Yes, believe it or not, Greenhouse’s take on Supreme Court actions might be colored by her own policy preferences.

As for Greenhouse’s simplistic assertion that it is “obvious” that Chevron deference ought to apply to the IRS’s interpretation of the supposedly “ambiguous” statutory provision, see Jonathan Adler’s recent demolition of that position (also on the Volokh Conspiracy).