Since the passage of Obamacare, the federal government’s role in American citizens’ lives has grown significantly. In a recent lecture, Heritage expert Robert Moffit discusses how passage of the health care law has not only grown the size and scope of government, but has also ignited a debate over the proper role for Washington in Americans’ everyday lives. Moffit writes that, under Obamacare: Over the next eight years, millions of Americans will be on the receiving end of a flood of red tape—tens of thousands of pages of new rules, regulations, and …
After weeks of delay, the Obama Administration finally went ahead and did it. Early last night, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice of appeal in Florida v. HHS, the multi-state lawsuit that has the best chance of striking down Obamacare. And this morning, DOJ filed a motion in the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals for expedited review of the case, which was a condition the district judge imposed on the DOJ to grant its request for a stay of the judgment pending appeal. This is a significant …
The Obama administration got a well-deserved rebuke today from Judge Roger Vinson in the Florida lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare (aka the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). Judge Vinson issued a new order in response to a bizarre and obtuse “motion to clarify” that the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed on February 17. Vinson’s original order on January 31 could not have been clearer: He declared the entire law unconstitutional and specifically said that, because he presumed that officials of the executive branch would adhere to the law …
“It is difficult to imagine that a nation which began, at least in part, as the result of opposition to a British mandate giving the East India Company a monopoly and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in America would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place. If Congress can penalize a passive individual for failing to engage in commerce, the enumeration of powers in the Constitution would have been in vain for it would …
In the most significant decision to date involving the numerous challenges to Obamacare, a district court today ruled in favor of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s challenge, and declared the individual mandate portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The fact that the decision is based upon cross motions for summary judgment means among other things, in simple English, that the parties have had two major hearings and two sets of merit briefs before the Court, which has now issued its second major opinion (and this is leaving …
“We don’t sue because we don’t like things. That is what elections are for,” Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told the closing lunch of the Fall 2010 Legal Strategy Forum, “We sue because some things the federal government has done are unconstitutional.” Speaking at The Heritage Foundation Thursday, Cucinelli urged the public interest lawyers in attendance to do all that they can to educate the public about how the federal government’s ever expanding power is antithetical to our nation’s First Principles. “These legal battles have been coming for some time. The …
On October 23, 2009, a reporter asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?” Speaker Pelosi shook her head dismissing the question: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Pressed for a more substantive response later, Pelosi’s press spokesman admonished the reporter: “You can put this on the record. That is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.” Yesterday, Roger Vinson, senior federal judge of the United States District Court for the Northern …
Since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, states and individuals have been on the offensive against the new law and many are following in the footsteps of Virginia and Florida. Obamacare is now being challenged by 20 different lawsuits with 21 different states as plaintiffs, but it is difficult to find all the different court documents and key arguments for the ongoing cases. The Independent Women’s Forum, a nonprofit group supporting limited government and economic freedom, has just launched a new Web site that will track …
Even as Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) was telling constituents that the federal government has unlimited power to do whatever it wants, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson was saying, “Not so fast!” What President Obama considers his crowning achievement illustrates the great divide in American politics — between those who see Washington’s power as limited only by the ability to sway voters and we who see it as limited by design in the U.S. Constitution. Straining to find a constitutional basis for mandating that everyone must buy health insurance, Obama’s lawyers …
Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) is one of the more honest members of the left in Congress. Long before President Barack Obama first started pushing Obamacare, Rep. Stark was advocating for a government “Medicare for All” takeover over our nation’s health care system. Rep. Stark’s honest view about the proper role and power of the federal government were on display again last month at a townhall in Hayward, CA. In the video posted, a constituent asks Stark: “If this legislation is Constitutional, what limitations are there on the federal governments ability …
