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Obamacare, the Constitution, and the original meaning of the Commerce Clause
Even the Supreme Court’s first foray into the realm of the Commerce Clause supports a narrow interpretation. In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), Chief Justice John Marshall struck down a state-granted monopoly for steamboat service. In discussing commerce, Marshall noted that state laws concerning the quality of manufactured items or foodstuffs “act upon a subject before it becomes an article of foreign commerce, or of commerce among the States.” In other words, gainful activities such as manufacturing or agriculture are outside the scope of Congress’s authority.
In his famed “Commentaries on the Constitution” (1833), Justice Joseph Story viewed commerce as trade and gave examples of areas beyond congressional commerce regulations: “[a]griculture, colonies, capital, machinery, the wages of labour, the profits of stock, the rents of land, the punctual performance of contracts, and the diffusion of knowledge.” If Congress presumed to regulate such activities, he went on, the result would be “the utter demolition of all constitutional boundaries between the State and national governments.”
In light of this evidence, it takes dubious legal gymnastics to find that Congress, via the Commerce Clause, can compel an individual to involuntarily purchase an item from a private market. Unfortunately, under the guise of the “Living Constitution,” the Supreme Court has abandoned Hamilton, Madison, Marshall, and Story, and created its own definition of commerce. Today, the high court claims that commerce is shorthand for any economic activity that could substantially affect a national market.
What can't Congress regulate?District courts upholding the individual insurance mandate reason that a person’s decision to forego health insurance is economic in nature. Receipt of medical care without adequate insurance affects the national healthcare and insurance markets by shifting costs for uncompensated care to doctors, insurance companies, and the government. Thus, Congress can require the purchase of insurance.
RELATED: When the Supreme Court takes up the Obama health-care law 'mandate'
Under this reasoning, is there any activity (or inactivity) beyond the reach of Washington? Decisions to bike to work rather than to purchase a car affect the national market for transportation. Decisions to rent an apartment rather than to purchase a house affect the national housing market. Decisions to follow a vegetarian diet rather than to eat meat affect the national food market. Can Congress thus decree that bike riders buy GM cars, that renters purchase houses, or that vegetarians eat steaks?
If these hypotheticals seem absurd, Americans should recognize that Congress already uses the Commerce Clause in inventive ways to criminalize certain activities. For example, Congress prohibits categories of individuals from possessing firearms based on the fact the firearm, at some point in its existence, traveled across state lines. Congress prohibits the storage of certain material on computer disks because the disks once traveled “in the channels of commerce” from the manufacturer to the end user.
Divorced from historical meanings and the original intent of the framers, the Commerce Clause has become the fount of unlimited government. Obamacare is but the latest episode of rampant commerce abuse. If the individual insurance mandate passes constitutional muster and enters the realm of precedent, then we can safely assume that no right, liberty, or inactivity is protected from the schemes of Washington’s lawgivers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/2010122...0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA29iYW1hY2FyZXRoZQ--
interesting opinion and rings true...seems the courts have given unlimited power to washington
Even the Supreme Court’s first foray into the realm of the Commerce Clause supports a narrow interpretation. In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), Chief Justice John Marshall struck down a state-granted monopoly for steamboat service. In discussing commerce, Marshall noted that state laws concerning the quality of manufactured items or foodstuffs “act upon a subject before it becomes an article of foreign commerce, or of commerce among the States.” In other words, gainful activities such as manufacturing or agriculture are outside the scope of Congress’s authority.
In his famed “Commentaries on the Constitution” (1833), Justice Joseph Story viewed commerce as trade and gave examples of areas beyond congressional commerce regulations: “[a]griculture, colonies, capital, machinery, the wages of labour, the profits of stock, the rents of land, the punctual performance of contracts, and the diffusion of knowledge.” If Congress presumed to regulate such activities, he went on, the result would be “the utter demolition of all constitutional boundaries between the State and national governments.”
In light of this evidence, it takes dubious legal gymnastics to find that Congress, via the Commerce Clause, can compel an individual to involuntarily purchase an item from a private market. Unfortunately, under the guise of the “Living Constitution,” the Supreme Court has abandoned Hamilton, Madison, Marshall, and Story, and created its own definition of commerce. Today, the high court claims that commerce is shorthand for any economic activity that could substantially affect a national market.
What can't Congress regulate?District courts upholding the individual insurance mandate reason that a person’s decision to forego health insurance is economic in nature. Receipt of medical care without adequate insurance affects the national healthcare and insurance markets by shifting costs for uncompensated care to doctors, insurance companies, and the government. Thus, Congress can require the purchase of insurance.
RELATED: When the Supreme Court takes up the Obama health-care law 'mandate'
Under this reasoning, is there any activity (or inactivity) beyond the reach of Washington? Decisions to bike to work rather than to purchase a car affect the national market for transportation. Decisions to rent an apartment rather than to purchase a house affect the national housing market. Decisions to follow a vegetarian diet rather than to eat meat affect the national food market. Can Congress thus decree that bike riders buy GM cars, that renters purchase houses, or that vegetarians eat steaks?
If these hypotheticals seem absurd, Americans should recognize that Congress already uses the Commerce Clause in inventive ways to criminalize certain activities. For example, Congress prohibits categories of individuals from possessing firearms based on the fact the firearm, at some point in its existence, traveled across state lines. Congress prohibits the storage of certain material on computer disks because the disks once traveled “in the channels of commerce” from the manufacturer to the end user.
Divorced from historical meanings and the original intent of the framers, the Commerce Clause has become the fount of unlimited government. Obamacare is but the latest episode of rampant commerce abuse. If the individual insurance mandate passes constitutional muster and enters the realm of precedent, then we can safely assume that no right, liberty, or inactivity is protected from the schemes of Washington’s lawgivers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/2010122...0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA29iYW1hY2FyZXRoZQ--
interesting opinion and rings true...seems the courts have given unlimited power to washington
