You’ve got to feel for the solicitor general, Donald Verrilli — first he had to argue the Obamacare case before the Supreme Court, and yesterday the Arizona S.B. 1070 case. The headline quote comes from Justice Sotomayor, who didn’t seem to buy the administration’s argument any more than the more conservative justices. After quoting a particularly meaningless reply to a justice by Verrilli, Hindraker at Powerline added, “that answer was incoherent, obviously, but not because Verrilli is a fool; rather, because the Obama administration’s position is indefensible.” The reason for that, of course, is that the decision to sue Arizona didn’t come from Justice Department lawyers who thought they had a good case but from White House political calculations.
But what’s struck me most over the past few days is how the Left does not even understand the concept of constitutionalism. They virtually all seem to think that “constitutional” means “a policy I like” and “unconstitutional” means “a policy I don’t like,” which is why they are so appalled at the prospect of losing before the Supremes on Obamacare or S.B. 1070. I know this isn’t an original insight, but it’s just amazing how the very idea of a fundamental law that sets limits on what government is permitted to do is so abhorrent — or even incomprehensible — to the Left, and has been since the days of America’s Worst President a century ago.