Posted on 03/21/2010 10:05:41 PM PDT by keep your powder dry
...The most constitutionally dubious part of the legislation is the mandate that all individuals must purchase private insurance or pay a fine. While the plan provides free insurance for the poor, it depends on the working poor and the middle class being forced to buy private insurance, with fines for families earning as little as $19,000.
The Constitution gives the government the power to take your money, but not the power to force you to give it to Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Many states, already including Virginia, Idaho, South Carolina, Texas and Florida, are ready to file suit as soon as one of their citizens is compelled to purchase insurance. The Obama Justice Department may end up facing 38 state attorneys general in the battle over whether or not Americans can be forced into the system.
And given the originalist bent of the Roberts Supreme Court, justices might knock down the individual mandate, and Obamacare along with it. That battle will be taking place just as congressional Democrats are facing voters...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I am not lawyer so others who have better insight feel free to chime in. I think Congress is going to be able to get around this one. The tax code simply has to offer a credit for a properly approved healthcare plan, just as it does for home mortgage interest. It won’t be worded as a mandate to buy per se.
More than ever, I seriously doubt there will be elections this November.
And if there are elections, there will 20+ million new Rat voters, courtesy of “Immigration Reform”.
Last one to leave, can you shut off the CFL?
ping
My understanding (and I’m not an attorney either) is that it IS a mandate. The wording of the bill is clear. Buy, pay a fine, or go to prison. Very very un-American and, I believe (from what I’ve read from Constitutional attorneys) - also very UnConstitutional.
Great article, and yes, I think it points out the issues nicely.
So does this give every single American sanding to ask for his birth credentials ?
One of the constitutional attorneys suggested a year ago about the BC that if anyone was arrested for a law sighed by Hussein that they could demand to see his BC. Crimianl defendants are given wide latitude to defend themselves.
I think the best example to pattern the suit is the one that threw out McCain Feingold. The WHOLE Law was tossed.
The question about the AGs lawsuits is will they be able to get a fasttrack on the case?
While I think that would be an interesting issue to bring up (although I personally am not convinced there’s a real case there - wish there were!), I am far more concerned that we start ramming through a few Constitutional amendments via the states to protect the people: among which - all legislation voted on by Congress must apply equally to them. In fact, this little bit of nonsense they passed tonight violates the equal protection clause (or it could be claimed to do so, I’m not an attorney). Anything which carves out a special group of people who get special exemptions/exceptions from the laws violates that clause. I’m sure that will be one of the many bases for filing suits which will begin tomorrow a.m. from what I gather!
Attorney Edwin Viera las year said if anyone gets criminally charged - they will be able to demand his BC.
great question!! I think it should give everyone standing!!
Lawsuit is the only recourse. Republicans will not try to repeal the law as a majority - democrats know this which is why they went down on their swords.
I don’t know. They can take your house to give the land to a private company, just to increase the government’s tax receipts. (See the Kelo decision)
I have been advocating for days for conservatives to bring down this bill in court. It is about time conservatives use the court to kill bills.
That, too, may be rescinded by future SCOTUS decisions. It’s not as if they haven’t reversed themselves before... I just think, frankly, that the FEDS are going to have bitten off more than they can possibly chew with trying to enforce this mess. It’s far more complicated than even they understand and the American people will fight and resist tooth and nail.
When the irritation point reaches the boiling point people tend to get loud.
If you think people are irritated when they have to wait a half an hour to see a doctor...
I am not at all confident there will be a Republican take over in November. The American people are basically stupid, and there is a lot of time for things to possible blow over. We shall see.
Seriously, if Charles Manson was running against most of these Rats, he'd win.
But Obama knows this too, so if “amnesty” isn't passed in time for the 2010 elections, there will be an event and Obama will suspend or cancel the elections.
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