WSJ column: Why the Health-Care Bills Are Unconstitutional

I think Senator Orrin Hatch and others make good points in Why the Health-Care Bills Are Unconstitutional. The column starts with:

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President Obama's health-care bill is now moving toward final passage. The policy issues may be coming to an end, but the legal issues are certain to continue because key provisions of this dangerous legislation are unconstitutional. Legally speaking, this legislation creates a target-rich environment. We will focus on three of its more glaring constitutional defects.

First, the Constitution does not give Congress the power to require that Americans purchase health insurance. Congress must be able to point to at least one of its powers listed in the Constitution as the basis of any legislation it passes. None of those powers justifies the individual insurance mandate. Congress's powers to tax and spend do not apply because the mandate neither taxes nor spends. The only other option is Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce.
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The column goes on expanding on the first point, and exploring two other points.

Over the last year as Americans have found out about the Healt Care proposes, more and more have opposed the current reform efforts. My current guess is the longer this drags on, the less likely it will be that the present bills will be modified enough to pass. Too many Congressman and Senators want to be re-elected.

If it does pass, then it will be interesting to see how the Constitutionality question.

The year 2010 promises to have a lot of interesting events.


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