Obama Health Care Law Under Attack

By Christopher P. Gerber

Daily Local News

8/16/10

We have just witnessed the beginning of the end for Obamacare. Living up to its nickname, the “Rocket Docket,” the U.S. District Court in Virginia recently gave the attorney general a green light to launch a constitutional attack upon the health care law. That lawsuit has now cleared the tower and has begun its inevitable journey to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Henry Hudson rejected the federal government’s attempt to shoot down the challenge before it took flight, noting that “no specifically articulated constitutional authority exists to mandate the purchase of health insurance or the assessment of a penalty for failing to do so.”

The constitutionally offensive part of the statute is found in the “Minimum Essential Coverage Provision,” which Judge Hudson states “literally forges new ground and extends the Commerce Clause [i.e. federal power] beyond its current high water mark.” Reading between the lines, this means that no previous administration or Congress has ever made such a bold attempt to consolidate absolute regulatory power over commerce.

With the denial of the government’s motion to dismiss Virginia’s lawsuit, Americans may finally get a glimpse behind the government’s curtain and see, for the first time, its alleged justification for such a power grab.

Arguing that a citizen’s decision not to purchase health insurance equals “economic activity” that may be regulated by Congress, the government claims “without full market participation, the financial foundation supporting the health care system will fail, in effect causing the health care regime to ‘implode.’”

The government further contends that, without a “minimum coverage type provision … the market will be driven into extinction.”

My fellow Americans, we need to drive this law into extinction … or our rights and liberty will implode!

This debate should not focus on politics or whether the law is well-intentioned. As Virginia’s attorney general argued before the court, “even if a congressional enactment is noble and legitimate, the means adapted to enforce it … must be within the letter and spirit of the Constitution.” While the law’s intended effect of providing health care to everyone is laudable, the Court notes that it “cannot be employed as a vehicle to enforce an unconstitutional exercise of Commerce Clause power, no matter how well-intentioned.” Finally, we have heard from a learned jurist on the issue, not just political pundits who may be easily dismissed by supporters of the law.

A legal revolution is under way. Under the leadership of our attorney general, Tom Corbett, the voices of Pennsylvanians will be heard in the District Court of Florida, where 20 states attorneys general have joined together in a similar challenge. Moreover, 70 percent of people who voted in a recent referendum in Missouri registered opposition to the health care law, by passing Proposition C, which denies the government the authority to penalize citizens for refusing to buy private health insurance.

I can envision President Obama in the Oval Office when Judge Hudson’s opinion was issued: pacing nervously amongst his advisers, quoting Shakespeare’s Henry VI: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Well, Mr. Obama, you should recall that lawyers drafted the Constitution in the first place and made certain that the federal government may not exercise power that was never given by the People.

We should be thankful that the founders had the foresight to create checks and balances — for it is quite clear that this Congress and Executive Branch are out of balance. The rule of law and free enterprise form the foundation of our greatness. Hopefully, our judiciary will reaffirm these most sacred American principles.