by Doug Book, staff writer
Though Nancy Pelosi responded with a glib “Are you serious” to a reporter’s question about the Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act shortly after the measure’s passage, her leftist comrades in the Department of Justice are not being dismissive of the issue any more.
In August, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unconstitutional the “minimum coverage provision” or individual mandate which requires everyone purchase Obama-approved health insurance and penalizes those who do not. Judges Frank Hull and Joel Dubina of the 11th Circuit ruled that such an arrangement exceeds the power of Congress to regulate “commerce among the several states,” in this particular instance, commerce being the sale and purchase of insurance.
Obama’s legal brain trust had perhaps hoped the powers of Congress under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause would be enough to safely see ObamaCare through a flock of waiting appeals and into full operation. But Judges Hull and Dubina ended that bit of wishful thinking, writing a brilliant, decisive and thorough rebuke of the individual mandate in their 300 page opinion. And as their ruling conflicted with that of the 6th Circuit Court, a grant of certiorari by the Supreme Court to review the case was guaranteed.
The facts summoned up by Hull and Dubina will naturally have no effect on the 4 members of the Supreme Court Marxist left, but must carry great weight with thinking Court Justices.
And it for this reason that Obama’s Department of Justice has decided to enter a whole new argument into the Supreme Court sweepstakes.
Just as people in a panic often begin throwing everything within reach against a wall to see what might stick, DOJ lawyers have filed a brief with the Supreme Court, advancing a defense for the authority of Congress to legislate the individual mandate penalty which was unthinkable 2 years ago.
For in light of its potential failure to pass muster with Justices under the Commerce Clause claim, Obama’s troops are now referring to the mandate penalty as a TAX, reversing course 180 degrees on the proscribed use of the dreaded “T” word while the bill was being considered. After all, Obama had promised no tax increases on anyone earning under $250,000 per year!
Article 1 section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to “…lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises…” And although in the text of the law itself, reference to the penalty as a tax of any kind is expressly avoided, it is now the claim of Obama’s forces that Congress had intended it to be a tax all along! The fact that the penalty was called nothing but a penalty in the legislation shouldn’t matter.
Of course what KIND of tax it is supposed to be, the brief doesn’t say. There has never been a federal tax imposed for NOT doing something—not buying insurance, in this case. And the power of Congress to tax comes with very definite legal limits, proscriptions and requirements. Apparently, Obama’s brigade of lawyers intends to cross that bridge when they come to it.
Rest assured, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas will see that they come to it.
Use this site to contact your Congressional Representative:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
To read more use these links:
http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/courts/ca11/201111021.pdf
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/77380052-11-Filed.pdf
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A1Sec8
Additional reading:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/tax-290834-congress-penalty.html
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This day in history March 1
1893: Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri.
In this world you may have knowledge or you may have repose, but you may not have both. What have you done today to deserve to live in America?
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The unconstitutionality of this mandate should be so self evident as to border on lunacy. The incremental creep of dismantleing the founding documents are obvious. After all the documents are only as rellevant as the quality of the people who are sworn to uphold them. "We have given you a Republic if you can keep it?" RE: Ben Franklin I think? We are not keeping it at all.
Right on the money, DCH! The "quality of the people who are sworn to uphold the founding documents" has been abysmal, to say the least.
That judges have IGNORED the laws of the land, Supreme Court precedent and the Constitution in order to keep a usurper in the White House is unconscionable. But that is what has happened. A ruling finding ObamaCare Constitutional will destroy the legitimacy, credibility and honor of the Supreme Court for a century.
We already know how 4 are going to decide. We'll find out if the remaining 5 deserve their jobs.
I, too, agree wholeheartedly with DCH. And Oldpuppy, what you have said is also very wise. However, what you have laid out if the remaining 5 agree with the Marxist 4 is, indeed, very frightening.
There has been nothing but lies from this administration.
The Supreme Court has already decided that federal healthcare is unconstitutional as evidenced by the following excerpts from case opinions. First, Justice John Marshall had established the case precedent that Congress is prohibited from laying taxes in the name of state power issues, taxes which Congress cannot justify under Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution.
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States." –Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
And despite Nancy Pelosi being able to read healthcare in the Commerce Clause with her "magic glasses," if there remains any question that Congress does not have the explicit Section 8 authority to address healthcare issues then consider the following statement also from Gibbons v. Ogden.
"State inspection laws, HEALTH LAWS, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. ARE NOT WITHIN THE POWER GRANTED TO CONGRESS (emphases added)." http://supreme.justia.com/us/22/1/case.html
In fact, before FDR "nuked" the Supreme Court with activist justices, the Court had reflected on Justice Marshall's words that Congress has no power to regulate healthcare-related intrastate issues as evidenced by the following statement.
“Direct control of medical practice in the states is obviously beyond the power of Congress.” –Linder v. United States, 1925. http://supreme.justia.com/us/268/5/case.html
The bottom line is that Congress has been wrongly ignoring its Article V requirement to petition the states for specific new powers via constitutional amendments, Section 8-indefensible Obamacare being such an example.
To RepealThe16thA : Let us all hope and pray that the "thinking Judges" among "The Supremes" view this issue as wisely as you do.
HELLO,
[WADO]–THANK YOU Coach for writing this article. How can these special-idiots up in Wacko D.C. even start to think that what they have done is legal. Look at where all of the foolish provisions have come from to stop, or to over-ride, or to do some tweaking of the health-care law, what we have here is a "FAILURE" to communicate—-RIGHT!!!! NOT QUITE. What a have here, is what the "FOOL" named Nanny Peel-Osey said needed to be done in the first place, OH NO that is not what this moronic women said, and I will quote here, her own words. "WE MUST PASS THIS BILL INTO LAW, SO AS TO KNOW WHAT IS IN THE BILL". DOES EVERYBODY UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS FOOL MEANS?? AS USUAL COACH A GREAT ARTICLE, BUT THERE IS JUST BUT ONE PROBLEM. IT DEALS WITH THE FACT THAT I AM NOW SICK TO MY STOMACH REAL BAD, BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD TO DISCUSS THINGS ABOUT LIBERALS, AND THEY OF COURSE CAN MAKE YOU SO SICK, YOU DO NOT WANT TO WORK, OR DO ANYTHING SPECIAL FOR A WEEK. MAKES YOU SOUND LIKE PEOPLE THAT OBAMMY WOULD LOVE–TIME TO GO BACK TO WORK, REAL FAST HERE.
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