By Ilya Shapiro
Texas Insider Report: Washington D.C. Judge Henry Hudson of the Eastern District of Virginia denied the governments motion to dismiss Virginias legal challenge to Obamacare. Notably Judge Hudson agreed the federal governments assertion of Commerce Clause authority for the individual mandate is unprecedented:
The guiding precedent is informative but inconclusive. Never before has the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause been extended this far. At this juncture the court is not persuaded that the Secretary has demonstrated a failure to state a cause of action with respect to the Commerce Clause element.
And that goes for the governments arguments generally:
While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues all seem to distill to the single question of whether or not Congress has the power to regulateand taxa citizens decision not to participate in interstate
commerce.
Neither the U.S. Supreme Court nor any circuit court of appeals has squarely addressed this issue. No reported case from any federal appellate court has extended the Commerce Clause or Tax Clause to include the regulation of a persons decision not to purchase a product notwithstanding its effect on interstate commerce.
Give the presence of some authority arguably supporting the theory underlying each sides position this Court cannot conclude at this time stage that the Complaint fails to state a cause of action.
In other words at this first early stage of litigation Virginias lawsuit survives and the government has a real fight on its hands.
Now this ruling does not decide the merits of the case and is not binding on any other court in any of the other Obamacare lawsuits on Friday for instance Florida is due to file its brief opposing the governments motion to dismiss the 20-state suit but it is a beachhead in the fight against big
government. Judge Hudsons opinion should finally silence those who maintain that the legal challenges to Obamacare are frivolous political ploys or sour grapes.
The constitutional defects in the healthcare reform" are very real and quite serious. Never before has the government claimed the authority to force every man woman and child to buy a particular product and indeed such authority does not exist.
I look forward to further favorable rulings as the various lawsuits progress.
