Federal Judge Strikes Down Entire Health Care Law

Gee,  I wonder if the Republicans will be complaining about this form of judicial activism?

From The New York Times:

A second federal judge ruled on Monday that it was unconstitutional for Congress to enact a health care law that requires Americans to obtain commercial insurance, evening the score at two-to-two in the lower courts as conflicting opinions begin their path to the Supreme Court.

Like a Virginia judge in December, Judge Roger Vinson of Federal District Court in Pensacola, Fla., said he would allow the law to remain in effect while the Obama administration appeals his ruling, a process that could take two years. But unlike his Virginia counterpart, Judge Vinson ruled that the entire health care act should fall if the appellate courts join him in invalidating the insurance requirement.

“The act, like a defectively designed watch, needs to be redesigned and reconstructed by the watchmaker,” Judge Vinson wrote.

In a 78-page opinion, Judge Vinson held that the insurance requirement exceeds the regulatory powers granted to Congress under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Judge Vinson wrote that the provision could not be rescued by an associated clause in Article I that gives Congress broad authority to make laws “necessary and proper” to carrying out its designated responsibilities.

“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,” Judge Vinson wrote.

Insanely, the entire law can be struck down because Democratic staffers forgot to include a severability clause in the legislation in the last minute scramble to pass the legislation in Spring 2010. Those staffers should be fired! Oh wait, the voters already did that in November 2010!

It is unlikely that Judge Vinson's law will survive appellate review. Even if the individual mandate is ruled unconstitutional, there are many other ways to fund the other changes that the health care law mandates.