Big legal setback for Obama’s health care overhaul
President Barack Obama’s historic health care overhaul hit its first major legal roadblock Monday, thrown into doubt by a federal judge’s declaration that the heart of the sweeping legislation is unconstitutional. The decision handed Republican foes ammunition for their repeal effort next year as the law heads for almost certain eventual judgment by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, a Republican appointee in Richmond, Va., marked the first successful court challenge to any portion of the new law, following two earlier rulings in its favor by Democratic-appointed judges.
“Keep in mind this is one ruling by one federal district court. We’ve already had two federal district courts that have ruled that this is definitely constitutional,” Obama said. “You’ve got one judge who disagreed. That’s the nature of these things.”
I suppose the simplest question is this: if the federal government can mandate the purchase of health insurance for all citizens, what can’t it require you to buy? Is there anything the government can’t require or control under the commerce clause?
Do I have to buy galoshes? Cheesecake? A TV? A phone? A computer? Vitamins? A bicycle? A dictionary (to look up the meaning of words in the federally mandated copy of the IRS code that I will have to buy)? A subscription to the New York Times? A time share condo (to live in while I have the federally mandated evironmental check on my house)? A car (to flee marauding IRS agents)?
You laugh. Or sneer. But in essence, there is no limit to congressional power if I can be forced to buy anything I simply do not want or choose to buy.
