Supreme Court Challenge to the Patient Protection & ObamaCare

to the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. OBAMACARE The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. Since then, more Is the fine associated with than 30 cases have been 90 mins filed challenging the law. The U.S. Supreme Court will| review the health reform law in March 2012, and is expected to arrive at a decision in late June. Experts agree that the outcome of the hearings is uncertain. the individual mandate a penalty or a tax?* Despite public demand, it is unlikely that the oral arguments will be televised. Audio recordings will be made available. PENALTY TAX PENALTY TAX It's a penalty because that is how the administration presented it, and because the goal is to achieve universal coverage, not raise revenues. It's a tax because it is assessed and collected by the IRS, just like taxes are. Then the anti-injunction act applies and the court has to wait until 2015 or later Was it constitutional 2 hrs for Congress to mandate the purchase of health insurance? (i.e., after the contested provisions go into effect) to decide the case. UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL Congress cannot regulate inactivity. The necessary and proper clause does not give Congress the authority to mandate that citizens purchase a good as a condition of breathing. The lack of a limiting principle is a fatal flaw. The power to order people to engage in commerce is at least of equal dignity to the power to regulate commerce. The Constitution does not give the government an indefinite supremacy over all persons and things. Every action and inaction affects commerce. Congress can regulate economic inactivity under the powers granted by the commerce clause. The necessary and proper clause gives Congress wide authority. The lack of a limiting principle is not a fatal flaw. The power to require people to engage in commerce is incidental to the power to regulate commerice. The Constitution gives the government an indefinite supremacy over all persons and things. The entire Can the individual law is mandate be severed upheld. 90 mins from the rest of the law? NDER LAW AASAEY BQUA NO YES NO YES Without the individual mandate in place, the health reform legislation is unsound. It will not work as Congress intended. Without the individual mandate in place, the health reform legislation is still sound. It will work as Congress intended. Two of the offending provisions would be removed (guaranteed issue and community rating), but everything else would stay. The entire law is hours total of oral arguments across three days. invalid. * A possible but unlikely alternative to the Supreme Court deciding this question is for SCOTUS to remand the entire law back to Congress for deliberation. The Justices WEDNESDAY MARCH 28 (pm) Can the federal government require states to expand their Medicaid programs as a condition of receiving funding? More likely to uphold Swing More likely to overturn 1 hr NO YES The Counsel The law unconstitutionally coerces states into expanding their Medicaid programs The federal government can constitutionally coerce states into expanding programs by threatening to withhold grants. CENTER for OBJECTIVE The to cover more individuals. HEALTH POLICY The Medicaid The Medicaid expansion will not hold. expansion will hold. Paul D. Clement Donald Verrilli Jr. ohpcenter.org Fmr Solicitor General Solicitor General (Opposing PPACA) (Advocating for PPACA) MONDAY MARCH 26 TUESDAY MARCH 27 WEDNESDAY MARCH 28 (am) Kagan Sotomayor Breyer Ginsburg Kennedy Thomas Scalia Roberts Alito