Federal judge rules health care law unconstitutional

A federal judge in Florida has ruled that the new health care reform law enacted under President Barack Obama is unconstitutional.

Judge Roger Vinson of Federal District Court in Pensacola declared that the individual mandate requiring citizens to purchase health care insurance was unconstitutional and that Congress “exceeded the bounds of its authority” by including the provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Because Vinson found that the mandate was inextricably bound to the act and other insurance reform provisions, he ruled that the entire law was unconstitutional.

In his ruling, Vinson likened the health care reform law to a “finely crafted watch” with one essential and defective piece — individual mandate. “The Act, like a defectively designed watch, needs to be redesigned and reconstructed by the watchmaker,” Vinson wrote.

Role of the government

The plaintiffs in the case, which included Attorneys general and governors from 26 states, held that Congress’ inclusion of the individual mandate was outside of the scope of power granted under the Commerce Clause. The clause allows Congress to make laws regulating interstate commerce. The plaintiffs argued that the clause only applied to activity, and that failure to purchase insurance was an inactivity. However, the defendants countered that activity was not required for congressional intervention. Furthermore, they argued that if action was needed, going without insurance would be an action.

Vinson noted that the ruling was not about the need for health care reform but, rather the constitutional role of the government. He awarded only declaratory relief in the case, which he noted is the practical equivalent of an injunction.

Judicial overreaching?

In a White House blog, Deputy Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President Stephanie Cutter wrote that the ruling was “a plain case of judicial overreaching.”

“This decision is at odds with decades of established Supreme Court law, which has consistently found that courts have a constitutional obligation to preserve as a much of a statute as can be preserved,” she wrote. “As a result, the judge’s decision puts all of the new benefits, cost savings and patient protections that were included in the law at risk.”

She wrote that the health care reform act would be upheld by the courts.

The Florida ruling is one of several cases challenging the constitutionality of the act. As reported in Orthopedics Today, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson of Eastern Virginia ruled that the provision mandating health care participation was unconstitutional, but upheld other parts of the act.

References:
www.flnd.uscourts.gov/announcements/documents/10cv91doc150.pdf
www.whitehouse.gov

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