Showing posts with label Obamcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obamcare. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Law Prof. Randy Barnett: Michigan AG Mike Cox could get parts of Obamacare overturned

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox’s legal challenge to sweeping federal health care legislation is a “serious constitutional claim” that has been too airily dismissed by law scholars, according to a Georgetown University law professor recruited by Cox to speak to reporters today.

Randy Barnett, a Carmack Waterhouse legal theory professor, said there is a realistic possibility the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately could invalidate several of the new law’s key provisions as congressional overreach.

Congress has never asserted in history the authority to require individuals to make a specific purchase or be fined, Barnett said, as the health care legislation would under a mandate that all American citizens have insurance or pay a fee to the government.

He said new regulations imposed on states as a condition of receiving Medicaid payments was also vulnerable.

Cox is among at least 14 attorneys general nationwide who are challenging the constitutionality of the new health care legislation. Cox filed his challenge March 26.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

If health care issue fades, Romney could run

No, Mitt Romney is not toast, contrary to some arguments I have read.

The dilemma that jeopardizes his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination may go away before it trips him up.

Judicial review might strike down parts of Obamacare, such as the individual mandate to buy health insurance, that seem likely to hobble Romney.

The White House is betting that the furore over Obamacare will subside, and polls show that is already happening as Americans adjust to the new reality. By convention time in 2012, Republican delegates may be choosing a candidate who differs little from Obama on the question of health care reform because it has become a nonissue.

That is the best possible outcome for Romney, who, as governor, initiated a health care reform in Massachusetts that has some of the same characteristics as Obamacare.

If, on the other hand, outrage against Obamacare remains at fever pitch among Republicans, Romney will be toast, or at least what passes for toast among the handsome, intelligent and rich. In that event, Republicans could look for a fire breather who would denounce both Obama and Romney for setting the nation on the road to ruin.

In the meantime, Republicans should mobilize promptly to seek repeal of Obamacare. If the Democrats have too much time, they will file their own appeal before a carefully chosen judge who hates conservatives and is about to embark on a one-year sabbatical to study rain forests.