The General Assembly takes action
The Gen Ass is passing a law against the individual mandate in the national health reform bill. This is a completely useless waste of time, since federal law supersedes state law. Purely a political stunt. (Of course, health reform opponents will be free to challenge the constitutionality of the federal law in the courts – if Congress ever passes a law. Most constitutional scholars believe such a challenge would be unsuccessful.) The specific benefits of health reform for Virginia are listed here.
In other Gen Ass news:
The bill to raise the statewide speed limit to 70 MPH is driving recklessly toward approval.
A bill to close the gun show loophole was shot dead in House subcommittee (again).
Republican Del. Chris Stolle has introduced a bill to earmark spending of nonexistent royalties from oil and gas drilling off the Virginia coast. Don’t spend it all in one place!
Republican Del. James Edmunds successfully passed a bill in the House to legalize possession of antlers.
I’m so proud of our fine legislators. They have only just begun to amass a long list of substantive accomplishments.
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February 2nd, 2010 at 2:34 pm
I believe your claim that your statement that “most constitutional scholars believe” is a stretch.
I followed the links you provided on the subject. The one that appears on POLITICO mentions an opposing viewpoint that also appeared on POLITICO.
The argument that forcing people to purchase private insurance is the same as forcing them to pay taxes and then providing them Medicare can be argued but the comparison falls short. I think the argument of precedence could more strongly be made if we decided to adopt a socialized health care system. In that case, instead of forcing citizens to purchase a service (new constitutional ground) taxes would be levied and services made available whether you like it or not just like Medicare.
I will also note that the current roster of the Supreme Court does not seem to have a major difficulty with over-ruling previous precedents as we witnessed in the recent decision on campaign finance reform.
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:53 am
I still think that this is more of a political stunt than a serious legal question. The Virginia law does absolutely nothing to challenge the constitutionality of health reform. Any legal challenge would have to be pursued through the courts, after the law is passed (if it ever is).
Most of those who are saying health reform is unconstitutional are conservative politicians and other ideologues. The Washington Post described them as “a small but vocal contingent of legal scholars and many Republican lawmakers.” Randy Barnett (Georgetown) wrote a legal memorandum published by the conservative Heritage Foundation. The Tea Party wing believes that Social Security and virtually everything else the federal government does (other than national defense) is unconstitutional.
According to the Washington Post “a number of legal scholars have come forward to rebut conservatives’ arguments, saying the individual mandate easily passes constitutional muster.” My original post linked to Erwin Chemerinsky (University of California at Irvine), who makes the legal case, and David Frum (of the conservative American Enterprise Institute), who makes the political case. The claim is also debunked by other nonpartisan constitutional law professors Orin Kerr (George Washington), Timothy Noah (Yale), and Jack Balkin (Yale).
On the other hand, you are correct that right-wing activist judges on the Supreme Court have not been shy about overturning precedents or making law. They put Bush in the White House and recently gave corporations the right to fund political campaign ads.
February 10th, 2010 at 8:46 am
we must conduct background checks at gun shows
February 10th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
It will never happen in Virginia, rob. Republicans will forever defend the freedom of criminals and the insane (and the criminally insane) to exercise their second amendment rights.
Meanwhile, House Republicans passed the completely useless bill opposing national health care reform.
Adding yet another to the list of great efforts to address the critically important issues of the day, House Republicans approved Del. Mark Cole’s bill to make the implantation of a human tracking device into your body without your informed written consent a misdemeanor.