11th Circuit on Obamacare: Unconstitutional
By E M Barner | Friday, August 12th, 2011 | PoliticsToday a panel of the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta, GA ruled that the individual mandate provision of the 2010 health care law is unconstitutional. The 2-1 decision did not overturn the entire law but found that the insurance mandate is unconstitutional. This is the first appellate court to rule that Obamacare exceeds Congress’s authority under the commerce clause.
This ruling is in the 26 state suit against Obamacare which is led by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. A Florida judge overturned the entire health care law earlier this year, prompting the Obama administration to appeal to the 11th Circuit.
Virginia’s case is before the 4th Circuit Court in Richmond. The case was heard in May but no ruling has been issued yet.
Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli responded to the ruling:
I congratulate our fellow attorneys general in this major victory, and although this court is not in our circuit, I am pleased that the judges ruled in favor of the two key arguments that are present in our Virginia suit.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi also responded (Reuters):
Today we have prevailed in preventing Congress from infringing on the individual liberty protected by the U.S. Constitution,
The 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, OH, has upheld the constitutionality of the individual mandate. With the 6th and 11th Circuit rulings clearly conflicting, the stage is set for the Supreme Court to take up the case next year.
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E M Barner, the blogger formerly known as DCH / De Civitate Hominis (“concerning the city of man”), writes from a Northern Virginia perspective. Barner has been active in Republican politics and policy since 1994 – as a grassroots volunteer, party leader, and professional.
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2 Responses to "11th Circuit on Obamacare: Unconstitutional"
If Obamacare is ruled unconstitutional do you think that will matter if Obama is re-elected? If Obamacare is ruled constitutional does that preclude repeal by a Republican President? The problem with Obamacare is not the individual mandate. Any state could mandate it couldn’t they? It is all the rest of the bill which this court ruled constitutional. So are Repubs going to say “No mas, we must learn to love Obamacare” if the courts support it? If Obama is re-elected how do they propose to block it?
Valentinus is confusing the US Constitution with Politics. The USC is the law of the land, the laws Obama took an oath to uphold. Despite that oath Obama stretched the limits of the over-reaching Commerce Clause in a manner tried before. No where within the USC does the legislative branch have the authority to require individual to purchase a product or service or face a penalty. Obamacare was written negligently in that it could have been written as a tax, which would have been upheld. But the mandate was improperly written as regulation with a penalty for not complying. Essentially, obama, who claims to be a pseudo constitutional “expert” shot himself in the foot.
This Law was claimed to be obama’s crown jewel, which may actuall turn out to be his Waterloo.
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