Judge Rules Obama’s Mandatory Health Insurance is Unconstitutional
Corruption, World news Tuesday, December 14th, 2010A federal court ruled in December 2010 that a key part of the health-care overhaul violates the Constitution, dealing the first legal setback to the Obama administration’s signature legislative accomplishment.
U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson said the law’s requirement that most Americans carry insurance or pay a penalty “exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power.”
The 42-page ruling doesn’t mean states or the federal government must stop implementing the law. But it is expected to give ammunition to a broad Republican assault against the overhaul, which includes efforts in Congress to chip away at it.
Requiring Americans to buy insurance “would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers,” wrote Judge Hudson, a George W. Bush appointee in the Eastern District of Virginia. “At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance—or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage—it’s about an individual’s right to choose to participate.”
The lawsuit, brought by Virginia Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, is the first court ruling against the law since President Barack Obama signed it in March. More than 20 federal lawsuits have been filed against the overhaul, and judges in two of those cases ruled in favor of the Obama administration. The battle is expected to end up at the Supreme Court, though probably not until the 2011-12 term at the earliest.
Judge Hudson didn’t grant the plaintiffs their request for an immediate nationwide injunction against the entire law or against the requirement that most Americans carry insurance. That requirement, known as the individual mandate, begins in 2014.
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