Robert Reich and Judge Napolitano on the Bizarre Logic of Justice Roberts

Reich is trying to make a different point, but he correctly understands how Justice Roeberts' reasoning for upholding Obamacare is bizarre reasoning that can lead down a very dangerous path:

On the most critical issue in the case – whether the so-called “individual mandate” requiring almost all Americans to purchase health insurance was a constitutionally-permissible extension of federal power under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution – Roberts agreed with his conservative brethren that it was not.

Roberts nonetheless upheld the law because, he reasoned, the penalty to be collected by the government for non-compliance with the law is the equivalent of a tax – and the federal government has the power to tax. By this bizarre logic, the federal government can pass all sorts of unconstitutional laws – requiring people to sell themselves into slavery, for example – as long as the penalty for failing to do so is considered to be a tax.

And Judge Nap backs up Reich: