The opinion isn’t on the court website yet, but here’s how The Wall Street Journal describes it:
A federal appeals court in Washington ruled Tuesday that last year’s federal health-care overhaul is constitutional, handing the Obama administration another legal victory ahead of the Supreme Court’s likely consideration of the law.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-to-1 that Congress, acting under its power to regulate interstate commerce, had the authority to require individuals to carry health insurance or pay a penalty.
“The right to be free from federal regulation is not absolute, and yields to the imperative that Congress be free to forge national solutions to national problems, no matter how local—or seemingly passive—their individual origins,” Judge Laurence Silberman, a Reagan appointee, wrote for the court.
Judge Harry Edwards, a Carter appointee, joined the ruling. Judge Brett
Kavanaugh, an appointee of President George W. Bush, dissented.
Obesity is a national problem. It is imperative that the federal government issue regulations requiring each individual to eat Broccoli instead of french fries as a side dish, regardless of the main course. Why not?
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congress can force us to buy it but we can’t force them to. remember they are exempt from this.
This is why we must win control of both the House, Senate and White House and repeal Obamacare in its entirety. The economy cannot surivive the full implementation of Obamacare. I have donated to fiscally Conservative candidates who have promised to repeal Obamacare. Jim De Mint has endorsed some great candidates at the Senate Conservatives Fund if you have a few dollars to spare.
I think the problem stems from EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act) which mandated (I’m paraphrasing) that a Medicare-participating hospital must provide emergency care (including labor) regardless of the individual’s ability to pay. From then, the government has been paying more and more for medical bills for people unable (or unwilling) to pay. This court says the Obamacare mandate is constitutional because the government ends up paying for people who don’t pay for themselves (one could even back it up to the enactmentof Medicare and Medicaid.) If government would get out of the medical care business, then the taxpayers wouldn’t be on the hook for all of these medical expenses, thus Congress wouldn’t feel compelled to mandate insurance coverage.
“Obesity is a national problem. It is imperative that the federal government issue regulations requiring each individual to eat Broccoli instead of french fries as a side dish, regardless of the main course. Why not?”
In one of the Obamacare cases, a judge asked the DOJ attourney this question, in very similar terms. The lawyer tried to laugh it off. The judge pressed him on it and the lawyer said he beleived that it would be constitutional for Congress to pass a law requiring people to eat brocolli.
I caught a part of Mark Levin tonight outlining why the Reagan-appointed judge’s ruling was waaaaay off. He was quite disappointed. Also, Mark went into detail as to why the infamous Wickard v. Filmore precedent under FDR doesn’t apply. [Note: his site will update with tonight’s show shortly.]
Very enlightening. Also, it makes me thankful that Mark Levin’s Liberty Legal Foundation has had a large part in writing briefs and opinions to the court(s) about the UN-constitutionality of the ObamaCare mandate.
Very thankful. 😀
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