This is the week when a federal judge in Florida begins hearing arguments by 20 states that the ObamaCare socialized medicine law is unconstitutional.
Conservative states such as Alabama and Georgia, but also liberal states such as Washington, will argue in court that nowhere in the Constitution is power delegated to Congress to force Americans to purchase health insurance. Nor may Congress force the states to spend billions more of their own tax dollars to provide care.
The states are correct in seeking to overturn ObamaCare. The Constitution strictly limits the powers of the federal government. Washington may properly perform functions such as national defense and the printing of currency, for example. But it may not dictate that the American people must purchase congressionally approved medical insurance – under penalty of big fines for those who do not buy the insurance.
In the Florida lawsuit, the 20 state attorneys general criticized the Obama administration’s misuse of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause in its defense of ObamaCare. They said it is absurd that the Commerce Clause could be used to punish people for not engaging in commerce.
The mandate that a person buy insurance “rests upon the incredible contention that inactivity – the failure to have health insurance – constitutes economic activity,” they argued.
In a separate ObamaCare lawsuit filed by Virginia, another federal judge has denied the Obama administration’s request that he dismiss the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson also questioned the administration’s use of the Commerce Clause.
“Never before has the Commerce Clause … been extended this far,” Hudson wrote.
All too often, federal judges strike down legitimate, constitutionally enacted laws. It would be a refreshing change of pace if the federal judges involved in these cases would strike down brazenly unconstitutional ObamaCare.