Then he went one better and invalidated the whole law due to the severability issue. In his 78-page ruling, Judge Vinson declared that the government can't do whatever the heck it wants and call it "general welfare":
The Necessary and Proper Clause cannot be utilized to “pass laws for the accomplishment of objects” that are not within Congress’ enumerated powers. As the previous analysis of the defendants’ Commerce Clause argument reveals, the individual mandate is neither within the letter nor the spirit of the Constitution. To uphold that provision via application of the Necessary and Proper Clause would authorize Congress to reach and regulate far beyond the currently established “outer limits” of the Commerce Clause and effectively remove all limits on federal power.The full ruling is here and it's everything I've been ranting about for months. The government, no matter how virtuous the intention, can't call inactivity "activity" and punish you for doing nothing. Otherwise it's compulsory broccoli and exercise for everyone, and the end of limited and enumerated powers.
Update - Choice cuts here, with a Tea Party shout-out.
Extra - "Simply the best!" says the Volokh Conspiracy: "...by far the best court opinion on this issue so far."
More - Opinion Journal: "The Constitutional Moment."
10 comments:
Enjoy the gigundo Drudge Report headlines now. This ruling is going to have the legs of Paul McCartney's ex-wife.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion from June 2010 on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. That law, like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, did not have a severability clause.
Roberts:
"We agree with the Government that the unconstitutional tenure provisions are severable from the remainder of the statute."
http://www.scotusblog.com/?p=22463
Funny how "liberals" are fighting for the end of all liberty in the courts.
Judges stick a finger into the wind too.
The times, they are a changin'.
Judge Vinson's ruling explicitly states that the insurance mandate has no impact whatsoever on interstate commerce. It's a dubious proposition. But then, he also claims that the mandate is non-severable from the rest of the law, and so, the entire law must be struck.
The ruling isn't legally or intellectually coherent, and you should not expect the Supreme Court to uphold it. You may start with some of the conservative Justices, who have track records on the very point. Yesterday's decision will carry absolutely no weight in their ultimate adjudication of the arguments.
The Bob Dylan song title you should be quoting is "Temporary Like Achilles."
You obviously didn't read the entire bill! (Ha). Congress decided to make it non-severable, not the judge.
You obviously didn't read the first response in this very thread (ho ho ho!). Chief Justice Roberts stripped an "inseverable" provision and upheld the rest of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
You also obviously aren't aware that Judge Hudson of Virginia ruled against the mandate only, not the entire law (hee-yuckity-yuk!).
To be clearer: the Supreme Court may or may not overturn the mandate (although doing so would require some revisionist acrobatics).
What the Court will certainly not do is pay the slightest bit of attention to Judge Vinson's arbitrary ruling.
So to avoid being called an judicial activist, Vinson should have:
1. Ignored the lack of a severability clause - and the fact that is was purposely excluded because without the individual mandate, Obamacare is completely unworkable. (the gutted version of SOX still sort of works) Requiring insurance companies to insure everyone regardless of conditions with the individual mandate is like requiring them to ensure my car - after I crash it.
2. Rifled through a poorly written 2,000+ page bill, pulled the Unconstitutional stuff and re-written the rest of the bill.
This would be judicial restraint? Ha.
Or in other words, exactly what happened last month.
Many people disagreed with the reasoning of the Virginia judge, but nobody views his ruling as illogical nonsense. Another plus for Judge Henry Hudson's opinion: he didn't pollute it with a silly shoutout to the Tea Party.
(Upon further review, December 13 is no longer last month.)
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