Obamacare’s been in the news a lot lately. Does it truly improve our healthcare system while reducing costs and our debt? I don’t know, but for now, that’s irrelevant.
Obamacare has been ruled unconstitutional by not one, but two federal judges. Virginia Federal judge Henry Hudson first ruled Obamacare was unconstitutional due to the individual mandate. This requires an individual to buy health insurance or pay some penalty. I contend this runs astray of the Commerce Clause. In Article 1, Section 8, Congress is only empowered to regulate, “Commerce […] among the Several States,” or interstate commerce. It does not apply to intrastate commerce, as health insurance presently is. If you can’t buy health insurance across state lines, it’s not interstate commerce and it’s intrastate commerce (this could be circumvented by allowing insurance purchases across state lines – the GOP needs to be careful what it wishes for). Even without that nuance, Hudson ruled it was too great of a reach of federal power to mandate a person to engage in commerce against their will, and I concur. Obama also attempted to justify it as a tax, which is nonsense because it was deliberately structured not to be a tax.
However, Hudson only declared the individual mandate unconstitutional. The rest of the bill was untouched. Florida Federal judge Roger Vinson wasn’t so merciful. Vinson also ruled the individual mandate was unconstitutional. Yet, Vinson further ruled that the individual mandate was the centerpiece of the bill. Without the individual mandate, much of the rest of the bill could not work, and as a result, the entire bill was ruled unconstitutional. Note that Vinson didn’t directly issue an order to cease and desist on preparations for Obamacare’s implementation. But, his ruling that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and the centerpiece of the law should be sufficient to act as a cease and desist order.
Vinson said he couldn’t ascertain what parts of the bill could work with or without the individual mandate because the bill is so complicated, so he struck the whole bill down. Vinson added that he didn’t feel it was his place (and he didn’t feel qualified) to try to understand such a complex bill and what aspects required the individual mandate. Thus, it must go back to Congress and the White House to work out. Vinson got it right.
He also cites the lack of a severability clause in the bill to justify his position. A severability clause is commonly included in legislation. It basically says that if a certain portion of the law is declared unconstitutional, the rest of the law remains untouched. Obamacare did not have a severability clause. It did at one point in the legislative process, but it was removed from the final version of the bill.
The democrats were not paying attention and I have no sympathy (either that or the GOP pulled a fast one on them, and for that they should be commended if that is indeed the case). It’s what the democrats get for trying to quickly pass a 906-page bill (HR3590’s final page count) without allowing sufficient time for review and debate. No time was provided to analyze and debate a (relatively) stable version of the bill. As Nancy Pelosi said, “We have to pass the bill so you can see what’s in it.”
Also, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives recently passed a law to repeal Obamacare. It was mostly along party lines, though a couple democrats joined the GOP. In the Senate, the GOP effort to repeal Obamacare was defeated along party lines. It’s a largely symbolic measure because even if it did pass the Senate, Obama would certainly veto the repeal, and the GOP doesn’t have the votes to override the presidential veto. This will be an issue for the 2012 election.
These rulings do not surprise me in the least. I’ve been saying all along to anyone who would listen that not only was the individual mandate unconstitutional, but the lack of a severability clause would be the death of the bill. It turns out I was right. As a result of this, you’ll also note that, throughout this entire post, I referred to Obamacare as a ‘bill’ rather than a ‘law’. With Vinson’s ruling, it’s no longer a law.
I have little doubt that this will end up in the Supreme Court. Hopefully, they’ll get it right and strike down the unconstitutional power grab that is Obamacare.
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