Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax: Supreme Court Not in 'Conservative Revolt Mode'

(Newsmax's "Saturday Report")  

The Supreme Court, after dismissing the Republicans' latest Obamacare challenge and ruling in favor of a Catholic foster care agency over an LGBT rights lawsuit is showing that it is not in a "kind of conservative revolt mode," Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Saturday.

"They're trying to render decisions that are consensus decisions," Dershowitz told "Saturday Report."

"Those who shouted and screamed and yelled that the conservatives taking over the Supreme Court don't understand what happens to a person when they put on a robe. They generally stop being political, and they look at issues from a legal point of view."

Dershowitz also said he isn't expecting to see a major revolution, and that this term "is a message to the Democrats to stop with this nonsense about court packing. Stop with this nonsense about changing the Supreme Court."

The court's unanimous decision in favor of the Catholic foster care agency in Philadelphia said the city had wrongly limited its relationship with the group as a result of the agency's policy, which says its religious views prevent it from working with same-sex couples. 

Dershowitz said that decision "tells us a lot about the future," including in cases like bakery owners who refuse to serve same-sex couples. Future decisions likely won't be unanimous in those cases, but they'll likely win, he believes. 

"This supreme court is going to favor religion," said Dershowitz. "It will focus on the free exercise clause of the Constitution, and it's going to say when there's a conflict between secular concerns and religious concerns."

In the Obamacare case, Dershowitz said he thinks future Republican challenges are already dead as the court has already ruled against them several times. 

"I think this was a message from the Supreme Court saying look, too many people have too much of a stake in their current insurance policies," he said. "'We're not going to uproot it unless you can come up with the most compelling constitutional reason, and we're going to find every excuse to avoid reaching that constitutional issue.'"

That makes the message clear, said Dershowitz. 

"Stop! You've lost!" he said. "Go back if you want to make legislative changes make legislative changes, but don't count on the court to undo what millions of people now count on as their insurance. This was a clear message to the other side to stop and it was so understood by the two dissenting judges."

Meanwhile, the court "purposely" stayed away from the insurance mandate issue, which will come at another time, said Dershowitz, but he thinks it will depend on circumstances before the mandate would end. 

"There are many instances where the government makes you do something, and it conditions something else on it like you can't drive unless you have insurance," he said. "If you don't have health insurance, it may end up costing me a lot more money as a taxpayer. It's a complicated issue, and the court wanted to stay away from it...the court will  away from that issue, and leave it to the legislatures to make decisions."