BrianGarst.com

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson has delivered as expected and ruled that the individual mandate is unconstitutional (the full ruling is available here). Even under the modern Commerce Clause jurisprudence, which itself has long ago turned the clear meaning of clause on its head, there has never been recognized any legal authority compelling individuals to purchase a particular good or service.

The oddity of the ruling is that it didn’t throw out the entire law, despite the lack of a severability clause in the original bill (which would make provisions for severing clauses found unconstitutional so that the bill itself could remain intact). As a practical matter, however, the lack of an individual mandate scuttles the entire affair. The question now is: what will the higher courts do?

constitution constitutional law individual mandate obamacare