Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Kessler (Federal Judge) Rules ObamaCare Constitutional

The split is now 3 to 2 in favor of Constitutionality. As commented with news of the other ruling, ultimately it will not matter as it will almost certainly head to the Supreme Court for final adjudication. Based on the excerpts I have read (have not had time to read the full opinion) the argument seems to be that the Health Care industry is 'special' and if it were not speaking specifically about that field it may indeed by unconstitutional.

The problem is that the same logic could be applied to a wide variety of fields; the logic being that you can not really guarantee you will opt out of or never participate in the health care system. How many things can you guarantee you will never participate in; not transportation, not housing/rent, not food purchasing, not garment buying... . The question that needs to be answered here is if the government can force you to purchase a product just as a condition of living here. I do not see that power given to the Federal Government in the Constitution, and safe money would be that if the courts find that power the government would extend it beyond health care.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0211/Federal_judge_rules_for_health_care_law.html

"The perfect partisan streak in health care rulings continues, with D.C. federal district judge Gladys Kessler, a Clinton appointee, ruling the Affordable Care Act constitutional. She's the third Democratic judge to do so; two Republicans have found it unconstitutional."

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