Monday, January 31, 2011

Florida Judge: Entire Obamacare Unconstitutional and Should Be Voided

YYEEESSSSS!!!

From Investor's Business Daily [emphasis is mine]:

U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson on Monday dealt the strongest legal blow yet to ObamaCare, ruling that the individual mandate "exceeds" the authority of Congress and that the entire law should be "declared void."

Another federal judge ruled in December that the mandate was unconstitutional. But Vinson went further, ruling that it was not severable from the rest of ObamaCare, so the entire act should be struck down.

At least two other judges have ruled in favor of ObamaCare. The Supreme Court almost certainly will hear the issue eventually.

The plaintiffs in the Florida suit included 26 state governments, giving the ruling added prominence.

...

The mandate requires individuals to buy health insurance or pay a fine. The administration argued that the federal government can compel people to buy insurance via the Constitution's interstate commerce clause.

Vinson ruled that the mandate tries to regulate economic inactivity, which he called the "very opposite of economic activity."

In December, Judge Henry Hudson of eastern Virginia also ruled the mandate unconstitutional. Courts in Michigan and western Virginia had previously dismissed challenges to the mandate.

The Supreme Court will likely offer a split decision. Historically, the high court has been loath to curtail the legislative branch's authority. But regulating economic inactivity is unprecedented. And, as the 26-state case showed, there is strong political and voter opposition to the year-old law.

Read the full article at the link.

2 comments:

Chris Taus said...

The fact that trial judges are political appointees gives the decision even less meaning, especially when the judge rules exactly how you would expect. Barring a death or retirement of one of the conservative justices on the Supreme Court, the healthcare mandate will come down to Anthony Kennedy, and its fate is no more decided today than it was yesterday.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Still, it doesn't need a Republican judge to say that not buying insurance (inactivity) is not a commerce that could be regulated. Or does a Democratic judge see it differently?

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