The Publius blog a helpful post linking information on the various lawsuits recently filed against the Obama health care bill. In addition to the suit filed by 13 states and a separate suit by the state of Virginia, there is a little-noticed lawsuit challenging the individual mandate brought by the conservative Thomas More Law Center […]
Archive | Health Care
Back to the House
The AP is reporting that the health care reform amendment legislation being considered in the Senate will have to go back to the U.S. House of Representatives because Seante Republicans were successful in striking a few portions from the bill. After nine straight hours of beating back Republican amendments, Senate Democrats hit a temporary snag […]
Radio Debate on the Constitutionality of the Health Care Bill
Readers in the southern California area may be interested to know that, tomorrow, I will be debating the constitutionality of the health care bill on KPCC’s Air Talk program at 2 PM eastern time, 11 AM Pacific time. At this point, I am told that my opponent will be Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the UC […]
13 States File Suit Against Health Care Reform
Thirteen state attorneys general — twelve Republicans and one Democrat — filed suit today against the health care reform signed into law by President Obama. Their complaint is here. In a separate action, a fourteenth state (Virginia) also filed suit.
Public Opinion on Legal Challenges to the Individual Mandate
Rasmussen Reports has just released a poll purporting to show that 49 percent of likely voters favor state litigation against the individual mandate, while 37 percent are opposed. The poll also reports that likely voters oppose the individual mandate 53% to 43%. This is only one poll, of course. All of the usual caveats […]
What Will Courts Do with the Individual Mandate?
Like Orin, were I forced to make a prediction, I would predict that the individual mandate will survive judicial review. Federal courts have been quite reluctant to strike down federal statutes on enumerated powers grounds for quite some time, and the individual mandate is a larger and more consequential piece of legislation than those invalidated […]
Is the tax power infinite?
By David Kopel on March 22, 2010 8:05 pm in Commerce Clause, Congress, Constitutional History, Economic LIberties, Federalism, Guns, Health Care, Necessary and Proper, Politics, Supreme Court, Taxes
One source of the impending constitutional challenge to the Obamacare mandate is that exceeds the enumerated powers granted to Congress under Article I, section 8. For example, that the people’s grant to power to Congress to regulate commerce among the several states does not include the power to compel people to engage in commerce. Jack […]
Legal Action and Political Action as a Two-Track Strategy for Opposing Obamacare
By Ilya Somin on March 22, 2010 7:05 pm in Commerce Clause, Health Care, Obama, Spending Clause, Supreme Court
In a recent post, I suggested that Obamacare will be almost impossible to repeal through political action. History shows that it is extremely difficult to eliminate entitlements. In addition, repeal would require Republican congressional majorities and a Republican president; I doubt we will get both simultaneously for years to come. Although various state governments and […]
The Stupak Solution?
On Friday, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) announced the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration had awarded nearly three-quarters of a million dollars to three Michigan airports to fund maintenance and improvement projects. Given the apparent consensus that the President’s Executive Order on abortion funding gave Rep. Stupak relatively little of what he sought on […]
Just Wondering
Back during the Bush Administration, I created a couple of controversial posts pointing out that Bush had achieved several longstanding liberal goals, including a vast expansion of Medicare, and greater federal aid to, and control of, local education. However, he got very little credit from the liberal side for these achievements. On the Medicare front, […]
The Stupak Conundrum: Why Did the Stupakites Change Their Positions on the Health Care Bill in Exchange for a Meaningless Executive Order?
The House of Representatives just passed the health reform bill previously enacted by the Senate by a narrow 219-212 vote. They probably could not have done without the support of eight to nine Democratic pro-life congressmen led by Representative Bart Stupak, who agreed to support the bill just before the vote in exchange for an […]
The Abortion Deal
Final passage of the Senate health care bill in the U.S. House of Representatives was facilitated by a last minute deal over abortion funding. Specifically, the President agreed to issue an Executive Order reaffirming limits on federal funding of abortion. As I read the E.O., it does not appear to limit federal funding beyond those […]
Crisis, the Health Care Bill, and the Growth of Government
The passage of the health care demonstrates the ways in which economic crises create opportunities to expand the power of government, often in ways that have little connection to any effort to alleviate the crisis itself. Back in the fall of 2008, I expressed my fear that the combination of an economic crisis, political ignorance […]
Constitutional Challenges to the Health Care Bill
Our own Randy Barnett has an article in today’s Washington Post surveying possible constitutional challenges to the health care reform bill, should it pass. As Randy notes, constitutional litigation is inevitable, as several state attorneys general and conservative public interest organizations have already announced their intention to file suit.
A Constitutional Slaughter Solution?
Yale’s Jack Balkin is now convinced that Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have found a constitutional way to combine passage of the Senate health care reform bill with revisions to be passed as part of a reconciliation process. In a letter to House Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter (reproduced here) Balkin writes: Under […]