by
Amanda Reinecker
February 1, 2011
Remember when a reporter asked former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) what part of the Constitution grants Congress the authority to enact an individual insurance mandate? And then she laughed the question off with an “Are you serious?”
Well, yesterday, America received a serious response in the form of a 78-page ruling from Judge Rodger Vinson that struck down not only the unconstitutional individual mandate, but the entire Obamacare legislation.
Because the Commerce Clause does not grant Congress the power to regulate inactivity, Vinson ruled, the individual mandate is unconstitutional. And because Congress deliberately excluded a severability clause, which would allow a judge to toss out only unconstitutional portions of the law, the different components of Obamacare “must stand or fall as a single unit.”
As Heritage’s Conn Carroll explains, “Judge Vinson has in effect stopped implementation of Obamacare dead in its tracks,” which underscores the challenges liberals face in imposing a federal health care program on America. (Listen to Ronald Reagan’s 1961 speech against socialized medicine.)
So the answer to Pelosi’s question is, “Yes, America is serious.”