Scalia Says Court Can’t Be Bothered To Read Obamacare: ‘You Really Want Us To Go Through These 2,700

[onenote]

96. You may have been stunned

but that merely reflects your lack of familiarity with how courts operate.

It is not the "job" of the Justices to read every line of a statute whose constitutionality is before them. Their job is to review the record and legal briefs presented to them. And, here's a clue -- most justices (and appellate court judges) don't even read all of the briefs. Rather they often rely on their clerks to prepare summaries of the briefs -- the justices/judges may then choose to read some briefs all the way through.

I guarantee that none of the Justices read the ACA "all the way through". Indeed, Sotamayor's point was that it should be left to Congress to decide whether other provisions of the ACA need to be revisited if the mandate is struck down. I'm certain that she doesn't think it is necessary for her to read the whole statute.

A lot of uninformed outrage here. Take it from a former clerk for a liberal judge -- Scalia's comments would be backed up not only by every other member of the SCOTUS, but also by every other sitting member of the federal judiciary.