Supreme Court of the United States

Insurers’ ObamaCare escape hatch

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
10/22/2014
Insurers wouldn’t participate in the federal health exchange without an escape clause protecting them from the possibility that IRS subsidies would be ruled illegal, according to industry news. It was a smart move, as that possibility just got more likely in recent weeks. At issue is what the plain text of Section 1401 of the Affordable Care...

An introduction to Hudson rights

By Paul Kersey
10/16/2014
Hudson rights are important to Illinois government employees, because under state labor law unions are entitled to collect union dues – or their functional equivalent – from every worker they represent, even if the employee does not support the union. Hudson rights mitigate the harm done by forced dues, allowing workers to opt out of...

TAGS: Hudson Rights, labor

Federal court strikes down ObamaCare subsidies

10/01/2014
People who don’t like the lawlessness displayed by the Obama administration in its implementation of the Affordable Care Act have something to celebrate. On Sept. 30, a federal court in Oklahoma ruled that the Affordable Care Act means what it says: ObamaCare insurance subsidies are only available in states that have established their own health-insurance...

Is pension reform dead in Illinois?

09/19/2014
In June 2014, in response to attempts by the state to reform government-worker health-care costs, Illinois’ Supreme Court found these benefits to be protected by the state’s pension clause ­– even though retiree health-care benefits are nowhere to be found in the state pension code. As a result, many assume that if the state can’t...

TAGS: budget, pensions, taxes

Rockford set to seize property for crony deal

By Bryant Jackson-Green
09/05/2014
Warshawsky Muffler has operated in Rockford, Ill., for 70 years, but that’s scheduled to change. The Rockford City Council said it may seize the three properties owned by S&L Warshawsky’s Inc. in order to allow a private developer to build a parking lot, according to the Rockford Register Star. The city decided earlier this year to...

Illinois corruption watch, August 2014

By Brian Costin
09/05/2014
At least 84 corruption-related stories have been reported from across the state of Illinois in August alone. Atop August headlines is the recent revelation that a federal grand jury subpoenaed the emails of Gov. Pat Quinn’s ex-chief of staff in relation to Quinn’s anti-violence grant program. The case, which has been referred to by some...

TAGS: Chicago, corruption, cronyism, transparency, waste

D.C. court to rehear Halbig ObamaCare decision

09/04/2014
Good news for the Obama administration: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has granted the administration’s request to rehear the court’s July 22 decision in Halbig v. Burwell. That decision struck down an Internal Revenue Service rule that made ObamaCare insurance subsidies available in all 50 states, even though the...