Scalia Health Care Bet: Justice Must Buy Dinner For Zeke Emanuel

Justice Antonin Scalia will have to pay up after losing a bet to Obama administration adviser Zeke Emanuel on whether health care reform would pass.

The two made a wager on the matter at a Massachusetts fundraiser in January, just after the election of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.).

Emanuel, an OMB official and the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, wrote in an e-mail to administration officials: "Health care reform will get me the enjoyment of having Justice Scalia take me out to the restaurant of my choice and have to pay -- leading option is Komi."

Via Mike Allen's Politico Playbook comes Emanuel's e-mail on his bet with the Supreme Court justice:

On Jan. 22 -- just 3 days after the Massachusetts disaster -- we were at a fundraiser for Amherst College and we bet a dinner whether health care reform would pass. (Truth be told, initially he was reluctant to bet dinner, $5 was his limit, but after I caught him in a contradiction he agreed to dinner.) I guess that demonstrates either my stupidity or the firmness of my conviction and faith in the team. So health care reform will get me the enjoyment of having Justice Scalia take me out to the restaurant of my choice and have to pay -- leading option is Komi. And I will be sure the meal violates every single recommendation for a healthy diet except excellent red wine!!! Thank you all for making my dinner possible!!!

If the pair choose the northwest Washington culinary mecca, Komi, Scalia will have to fork over more than $100 per person for the restaurant's multi-course tasting menu.

Comments

[mw21]

04:17 PM on 04/05/2010

A Supreme Court Justice betting on whether a bill that may end up in his court room will pass. Justice is blind? This may be a "small" and "innocent" little bet but it does show the impartiali­ty and lack of judicial integrity this man has. I think it will probably become part of legal ethics classes in the future.

[bgofca]

12:16 PM on 04/05/2010

how this horrible man could be on the supreme court makes me gag.

[Shozen]

11:40 AM on 04/05/2010

One can tell from this incident how he will vote regarding the constituti­onality of the Health Care Reform law.

[AZreb]

11:32 AM on 04/05/2010

Since the supreme court majority have all lost self-respe­ct, Scalia losing a dinner bet is minor.

[AyeChart]

09:57 AM on 04/05/2010

Easy to understand why Scalia lost the bet: He credited Democrats with more decency and regard for the public than they actually possessed.

[jatrig]

12:35 PM on 04/05/2010

Providing tax-breaks and opportunit­y for health care to millions of Americans shows disregard and indecency towards Americans? Ummm......­. less "decent" than ruining our surplus to cut taxes for only the wealty? less decent than blocking unemployme­nt benefits for admittedly political-­gamesmansh­ip? Less decent than starting a war for false reasons? less decent than letting an entire American city drown? boy, your outrage and priorities are pretty interestin­g. You know, it's funny that the same people who demand American be known as a "Christian nation" are the same people who demand we not act like it but instead protect our worst-qual­ities as individual­ists. Consistenc­y was never the right's forte.

[jukesgrrl]

07:09 AM on 04/05/2010

Don't you love this kind of behavior from people who supposedly don't believe in judicial activism? Justice Roberts making editorial gestures at the State of the Union speech, Justice Thomas' wife running her own Tea Party, and Justice Scalia, as usual, running all over town offering his personal opinions on just about everything­. Never in my life have I seen a Supreme Court run this way.

[ThePhilosopher]

01:04 AM on 04/05/2010

Kinda amusing; I made a bet with one of my professors about this. I said healthcare reform would pass, she said it wouldn't (though she wanted it to). The deal was that the loser would have to buy the class (only 6 students) a round of beers. Needless to say, she bought us all a round at a local campus bar during our last class!

[hernan1333]

12:51 AM on 04/05/2010

would have been great if Scalia had bet his seat on the Supreme Court...

[joyce2]

05:22 PM on 04/04/2010

There is a big difference between being biased,fol­lowing your party line and following the letter of the law.which it seems this judge has no idea of following.­JMO

[joyce2]

05:19 PM on 04/04/2010

It needed to be made public so people could see how biased this judge already was and hopefully have to recluse himself,el­se how could any other cour ask a judge or attorney to recluse themselves for any reason.

[rickthaluddite]

12:12 PM on 04/05/2010

RECUSE

[BarryWolk]

01:06 PM on 04/05/2010

Scalia is not a judge... He is a 'Justice'. Big diff!

We have thousands of judges and only nine justices.

[sweetwhine]

01:29 PM on 04/04/2010

You would think with a name like Scalia, he'd want health care for everyone.

[iridium53]

11:47 AM on 04/04/2010

If I were Scalia, I'd hold off on paying out on that bet.

When the court cases reach him, and he and his right-wing buddies on the court, overturn it, he'll need to get his bet back.

Scalia, Thomas and Roberts have yet to meet a law that benefits citizens and hurts corporatio­ns they can't overturn.

[therriman]

11:35 AM on 04/04/2010

Liberal catches prominent Conservati­ve in "Contradic­tion" (lie).

Imagine that!

[ezgoingal]

09:23 AM on 04/04/2010

Emanual, should bring guests, LOTS of them.

[missmanners]

09:11 AM on 04/04/2010

Five dollars!!!

You know what I'm thinking.