Senate Judicial Committee: Constitutionality of Obamacare

The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned several experts on the Constitutionality of Obamacare. I watched about one hour of that meeting. This article details what I learned from the meeting.

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Amendment 10: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

With regard to state sovereignty, Federalist paper # 44 section 6 is relevant. Note that the word "expressly" is not used in the tenth amendment. To explain why it is not used, an expert referenced the Federalist Paper # 44 section six. James Madison argued that if the word expressly is used, the Constitution would have to cover every exception to the tenth amendment.

The Republicans assume that major national government problems can be resolved via one single solution that does not affect the states nor infringe on state sovereignty. Yet Congress has infringed on state sovereignty with the establishment of the EPA, OSHA, vaccinations for deadly viruses, eminent domain, etc.

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Commerce clause: "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes"

The Florida Federal Court ruled the individual mandates unconstitutional. However, insurance firms operate across state lines. Health insurance is interstate commerce. Furthermore, uninsured people entering hospital emergency rooms raises insurance rates for people in other state. Hence, the argument against mandates falls apart.

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Presumption of Constitutionality Doctrine

The last relevant issue is the controversial presumption of constitutionality which is assumed to be the right of Congress as one of the three major bodies of our government. But constitutionality was not assumed. Senator Max Baucus questioned Constitutional experts on the issue.

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Flaw in Republican Challenge.

The major problem with the Republican challenge to the constitutionality of Obamacare is that their challenge is based on their party's philosophy of conservatism rather than constitutionality. Some of the national legislation such as Social Security and Medicare has been ruled constitutional by the US Supreme Court after Federal courts ruled them unconstitutional. The same arguments used to attack Social Security are being used to attack Obamacare.

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Obamacare does exempt people who object to health care on Religious grounds. This is in compliance with the US Constitution.

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Conclusion:

The Republicans are trying to repeal Obamacare because they fear the US Supreme Court will not rule Obamacare unconstitutional. Their fear may be justified.