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By Ben Pershing
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Opponents of the health-care reform bill are not giving up the fight, and
some think their last, best hope to halt the legislation lies not in the
U.S. Capitol but in the court across the street.
A small but vocal contingent of legal scholars and many Republican lawmakers
argue that the measures passed by both chambers are unconstitutional and
will be ruled so by the Supreme Court. Their primary target: the individual
mandate, which requires people to get health insurance or pay a financial
penalty of at least 2 percent of their income to the government.
Although it would affect only those who do not get insurance from their
employer, Medicare or Medicaid, the mandate is a central component of
Democrats' reform plans, which operate under the assumption that bringing
everyone into the national insurance pool -- particularly young, healthy
people who do not have coverage -- will reduce premiums across the board. By
adding millions of new customers, the mandate is also designed to make
reform more palatable for insurance companies, which will face new
restrictions and requirements.
But some critics dismiss the economic merits, saying the bills would force
people to buy a particular product. Laws requiring drivers to carry auto
insurance do the same thing, but people can choose not to own a car. The
health insurance mandate includes no such alternative.
"In the history of this country, the federal government has never required
every American to enter into a contract with a private company," said Randy
Barnett, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University Law
Center.
Barnett and two co-authors made the case against the individual mandate in a
legal memorandum published by the conservative Heritage Foundation in early
December. To uphold the constitutionality of the individual mandate, they
argued, the Supreme Court would have to find that the Constitution'
Commerce Clause has "no limits."
"If Congress can mandate this, they can mandate anything," they wrote.
"Congress could require every American to buy a new Chevy Impala every year,
or pay a 'tax' equivalent to its blue book value, because such purchases
would stimulate commerce and repay government loans."
Democrats say the constitutionality argument is a stalking-horse for the
GOP's broader opposition to reform. On Dec. 23, the day before the Senate
passed its health-care bill, the chamber voted on a point of order raised by
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who said the individual mandate made the measure
unconstitutional. His effort was rejected along party lines, 60 to 39.
During the floor debate, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said the Senate
"cannot ignore this question by simply punting it to the courts."
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), a co-author of the bill,
responded, "We have looked at this question seriously and concluded that the
penalty is constitutional. And those who study constitutional law as a line
of work have drawn that same conclusion."
Indeed, a number of legal scholars have come forward to rebut conservatives'
arguments, saying the individual mandate easily passes constitutional
muster.
"There are many close constitutional questions. But this is not among them,"
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California at
Irvine, wrote in a recent online debate on the subject. "Congress clearly
has the legal authority to require individuals to have health insurance."
Conservatives make two primary arguments against the mandate. The first is
that an individual's inactivity -- in this case, the failure to buy health
insurance -- does not qualify as interstate commerce, and thus Congress does
not have the power to regulate it under the Commerce Clause. The second is
that the financial penalty the law would impose goes beyond Congress's
ability to lay and collect taxes.
This Story
a.. Opponents of health-reform bill look to Supreme Court
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"All of these arguments don't work, but they're interesting to debate," said
Jack M. Balkin, a constitutional law professor at Yale Law School.
Defenders of the mandate point out that the Supreme Court has ruled that
Congress may regulate "activities that 'substantially affect' interstate
commerce" and that individuals' purchasing (or not purchasing) health
insurance clearly falls within that category. Besides, Balkin added, "it's a
really easy argument to show that this is a tax designed to promote the
general welfare. . . . The Commerce Clause issue is irrelevant."
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum (R), a candidate for governor,
announced that his office will "conduct a review of the constitutionality"
of the individual mandate. Conservatives have advanced other constitutional
arguments against the reform plans, including that regulating insurance
companies represents the illegal seizure of private property and that the
Senate bill's excise tax on high-cost health plans impermissibly affects
some states more than others.
Both sides say that if a bill becomes law, it will quickly be challenged in
federal court.
"I don't think you'll be able to control the throng of test cases," Barnett
said, adding that it is "unavoidable" the Supreme Court will eventually take
up the individual mandate issue.
Balkin agreed that the law will be challenged, but he said the Supreme Court
is unlikely to take the case; even if it does, it "will not overturn the
individual mandate."
The mandate has been a source of controversy not just on the right. Barack
Obama criticized the idea during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries,
leaving it out of his reform proposal while Hillary Rodham Clinton included
it in her campaign's health-care plan. More recently, influential liberal
blogger Markos Moulitsas argued that it was "unconscionable to force people
to buy a product from a private insurer that enjoys sanctioned monopoly
status."
But conservatives have focused on the constitutionality question. In
October, a reporter from a conservative Web site asked House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.): "Where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress
the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?"
Pelosi responded: "Are you serious? Are you serious?"
cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
John Quincy Adams
