At his website Legal Insurrection, Prof. William Jacobson
thinks the U.S. District judge who ruled the other day that Obamacare is unconstitutional may have the winning argument:
If the ruling holds up on appeal,
Obamacare is dead. As a doorknob. Not just the mandate or some other particular
provisions. He killed the WHOLE THING.
. . .
Here’s
the short version. Texas and other states sued to declare the individual
mandate unconstitutional because in the recent tax reform the penalty for
failing to pay the mandate was removed. (2nd
Amended Complaint here) With the removal of the mandate penalty, the
mandate no longer was a function of Congress’ taxing power, which was the basis
upon which John Roberts and the liberal Justices on the Supreme Court upheld
the constitutionality of the mandate in 2012. The
Court conservative and Roberts had ruled the mandate violated the Commerce
Clause, but Roberts broke with the conservatives on the tax power issue.
Architects of Obamacare are not happy, and that’s a good
sign. Katie Pavlich reports:
Essentially, without the mandate --
Obamacare cannot stand.
Architects of the program,
including the guy [Jonathan Gruber} who called Americans "stupid," aren't happy about
it. Despite arguing for years the mandate was essential to the success of
Obamacare, they're now backtracking in an attempt to save what's left.
Let’s hope Jacobson and Pavlich are correct.
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