October 10, 2013 ObamaCare's Original Sin By Jon N. Hall
Democrats tell us that ObamaCare is "the law of the land," and that the Supreme Court declared it constitutional, and that we should get used to it -- it's here to stay. Actually, the Court found ObamaCare unconstitutional on two counts, but let it pass anyway.
The problem for defenders of ObamaCare is that its court challenges just keep coming. One place to check up on them is the website Health Care Lawsuits. In September, the American Enterprise Institute ran an article by Chris Conover headlined "Will the Courts Derail Obamacare?" The article covers several of the ongoing court challenges to ObamaCare, including the status of each case. (The article also ran at Forbes.)
On October 5, National Review ran a terrific article by former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy that addresses a specific legal challenge:
It is not just that the intensely unpopular Obamacare was unconstitutional as fraudulently portrayed by the president and congressional Democrats who strong-armed and pot-sweetened its way to passage. It is that Obamacare is unconstitutional as rewritten by Roberts. It is a violation of the Origination Clause -- not only as I have expansively construed it, but even under Matt's narrow interpretation of the Clause. [...] The Clause requires that tax bills must originate in the House of Representatives. Obamacare did not.
This is interesting, I had not heard about the Origination Clause argument. Here's hoping that this goes somewhere. From the article:
ZitatIt is not just that the intensely unpopular Obamacare was unconstitutional as fraudulently portrayed by the president and congressional Democrats who strong-armed and pot-sweetened its way to passage. It is that Obamacare is unconstitutional as rewritten by Roberts. It is a violation of the Origination Clause -- not only as I have expansively construed it, but even under Matt's narrow interpretation of the Clause. [...] The Clause requires that tax bills must originate in the House of Representatives. Obamacare did not.
And...
ZitatThe challenge citing the Origination Clause isn't the only lawsuit against Obamacare, but it is the only one that has the potential to wipe out the entire act in one fell swoop. Other claims, notably the freedom-of-religion cases dealing with the birth control requirement, nibble at the fringes but would leave the law largely intact.
Our biggest problem with this tactic may well be as was stated:
ZitatThe question remaining: Are there enough originalists on the Court to reinstall the Origination Clause?