Obomination: The Unconstitutionality of Obamacare

Why get rid of Obamacare?  Yes, there are practical arguments that so much federal government control over the health care industry is not efficient or helpful.  Then, there are concerns about whether it was even well-written and had the support of the legislature, when over 2700 pages of the Obamacare bill were read by hardly anyone who voted for it.  But most importantly, Obamacare should be struck down because it is the unconstitutional expansion of the federal government.  Last Monday, the Supreme Court granted cert to the Obamacare case and now the justices have the opportunity to review the constitutionality of this law and potentially strike the whole law down.

The constitutional arguments against Obamacare were first made by Randy Barnett, Nathaniel Stewart and Todd Gaziano.   The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power “[t]o regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.  Read their memorandum here for details, but the basic constitutional argument addressed there has to do with limits.  Like all powers granted to the federal government, the commerce clause should have a limiting principle.  The basic question the court must decide in the Obamacare case is: what is the limiting principle of the commerce clause?  Obamacare’s individual mandate now says that your decision not to engage in commerce can also be regulated.  If Obamacare is constitutional, the extent of the federal government’s power under the commerce clause would be limitless.  This case is really about the fundamental principles of our system of government and whether our individual liberties are protected.

Harvard Law’s Charles Fried testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that if the government can make you buy health insurance, they can also make you consume broccoli.  Even if you don’t have an aversion to the green vegetables, everyone should be concerned about having the kind of government which would intervene so much into the lives of its citizens.