Carmen Munir Russell-Sluchansky

Journalist, Writer, Photographer

Legally Speaking: Constitutional Challenges to Health Care Law, 8/19/11

Written By: Carmen - Aug• 19•11

There are roughly a couple dozen constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act, the so-called Obamacare, that Congress passed and President Obama signed in 2009. These challenges primarily focus on the insurance mandate, a provision in the bill that requires those who can afford it to buy insurance. There are several arguments against the bill including that the federal government cannot make individuals buy something. The administration has counted that the commerce clause in the US constitution gives them the power to do so because healthcare involves interstate commerce, which Congress can regulate. I talk to Susan Low Bloch, Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University; Gillian Metzger, a Columbia Law School Professor, who filed a brief in support of the bill; and Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute, who has worked against it.

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