By Tom Brown
MIAMI
Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:18pm EST
MIAMI (Reuters) - A federal judge in Florida struck down President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul as unconstitutional on Monday in the biggest legal challenge yet to federal authority to enact the law.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled that the reform law's so-called individual mandate went too far in requiring that Americans start buying health insurance in 2014 or pay a penalty.
CLICK HERE TO SEE JUDGE VINSON'S RULING!
"Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void," he wrote, "This has been a difficult decision to reach and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications."
Referring to a key provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Vinson sided with governors and attorneys general from 26 U.S. states, almost all of whom are Republicans, in declaring the Obama healthcare reform unconstitutional.
"Regardless of how laudable its attempts may have been to accomplish these goals in passing the act, Congress must operate within the bounds established by the Constitution," Vinson, who was appointed to the bench by Republican President Ronald Reagan, ruled.
Governor Jan Brewer Applauds Decision in ObamaCare Lawsuit
Florida Judge Issues Summary Judgment in Favor of States’ Rights
PHOENIX – Governor Jan Brewer today hailed the ruling by Florida U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson as a major victory for states’ rights in its finding that the individual mandate in ObamaCare, which requires everyone to purchase federally-approved health care or pay a penalty beginning in 2014, is an unprecedented and unconstitutional application of the Commerce Clause.
“I knew ObamaCare was unaffordable and unsustainable, and today’s court ruling confirms that it is unconstitutional, as well,” said Governor Jan Brewer. “Our country was founded on the concepts of individual liberty and state sovereignty, not federal mandates and penalties. So I applaud the court for doing its duty in upholding the Constitution, and I look forward to leading the continued fight against this federal monstrosity.”
In a 78-page decision, Judge Vinson ruled for summary judgment in favor of the 26 states regarding the individual mandate provision, striking down every single argument offered by the Obama Administration in its failed effort to justify why Congress should have the power to require its citizens to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States. Moreover, the court held that the individual mandate is not severable from the rest of the act and, therefore, the entire act must be declared void.
As the Governor stated in her letter to Secretary Sebelius last week, Arizona is in a struggle for survival. The Medicaid program is slowly taking over Arizona’s state budget. State obligations for Medicaid have grown from 17 percent of the state General Fund in FY2007 to 29 percent in FY2011. During that time, spending on Medicaid has soared by 63 percent, while the state has slashed spending in almost all other areas of government. This cannot be sustained. Arizona’s deficit is $763 million in FY2011 and a staggering $1.2 billion in FY2012.
In his ruling Judge Vinson said, “Never before has Congress required that everyone buy a product from a private company (essentially for life) just for being alive and residing in the United States.” The Judge went on later to note that if Congress has the power to compel an otherwise passive individual into a commercial transaction with a third party merely by asserting that the transaction is commerce, then “the enumeration of powers in the Constitution would have been in vain for it would be ‘difficult to perceive any limitation on federal power… and we would have a Constitution in name only. Surely this is not what the Founding Fathers could have intended.”
In previous rulings, the Court acknowledged the critical point made by the states in that ObamaCare forces upon them the choice of either accepting the sweeping changes to Medicaid, which will “explode their state budgets,” or withdrawing from the system entirely. ObamaCare transforms Medicaid from a federal-state partnership to reimburse needy persons’ medical costs into a vast federally-mandated program to benefit millions of persons with incomes above the poverty line. The Act now limits state flexibility and turns the states into an administrative arm of the federal government.
Today’s decision striking down ObamaCare in its entirety has a direct impact upon the federal Medicaid requirement from which Governor Brewer sought a waiver last week. If the federal health plan is unconstitutional, she said, it follows that the maintenance-of-effort funding requirement it implemented upon the states would be unconstitutional, as well.
“I hope that federal officials’ take today’s decision into account when reviewing the waiver request that I submitted last week,” said Governor Brewer.
Franks Statement on ObamaCare Once Again Being Ruled Unconstitutional
January 31, 2011 — Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) today gave the following statement after a federal judge in Florida ruled that the federal government has no constitutional authority to force Americans to purchase private products like health insurance, ruling the entire health care bill unconstitutional as a result of the individual mandate that forms the central pillar to the legislation.
"I know I have been one of this Administration's most stringent critics because of its positions on free enterprise and national security, among many other things. But my gravest concern is that this Administration holds no commitment to the core foundation of our nation, our Constitution. Once again the courts have ruled that Congress does not have the power to tell an individual what he or she must purchase in the private marketplace.
"Indeed, if someone had told the founding fathers that the federal government was Constitutionally permitted to force American citizens to buy a particular product, they would have started a whole new American Revolution.
"Earlier this month, the House of Representatives voted to repeal ObamaCare. It's time -- in the wake of two rulings by federal courts throwing out this overreaching and intrusive legislation -- for this body to act now to defund the legislation, bit by bit-- however necessary-- to prevent great damage from being done not only to our nation's health care system but to the Constitutional framework within which our Republican functions."
The lawsuit in question was brought by 26 states, the National Federation of Independent Business, and two individuals. Last December, Congressman Franks signed an amicus brief in the suit brought by the State of Virginia in which another federal judge found ObamaCare unconstitutional. Congressman Franks is also party to three other lawsuits against ObamaCare, including a suit in Arizona challenging the legislation on the grounds that its prohibition of any future Congress from repealing the law is unconstitutional.
Congressman Franks is serving his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives and is a member of the Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and a member of the Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law. He is also a member of the Armed Services Committee, where he serves on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee and the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.
WASHINGTON, DC –U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar, DDS (AZ-01) on today’s Florida court ruling on health care:
###“I applaud today’s ruling striking down President Obama's Health Care Law due to the individual mandate imposed on the public. I voted to repeal this law prior to this decision. Also, I previously co-sponsored HR 21 which would legislatively repeal this unconstitutional mandate. The individual mandate was forced on the American people without their dialogue or input by an Administration that thinks it knows better than the people. As a healthcare provider, I voted to repeal Obamacare so that we can replace it with commonsense reforms that will actually lower the cost of health care and improve access.”
STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX (January 31, 2011) – House Speaker Kirk Adams called today’s ruling on Obamacare by the federal judge a “major victory” for Arizonans and a vindication of Arizona’s decision to join the multi-state suit against the unconstitutional government health care takeover.
Judge Roger Vinson ruled that the entire health care takeover is unconstitutional and said that Congress overstepped its legal bounds when it mandated that Americans purchase health insurance.
“Today is a major victory for the people of Arizona, America and all us of who believe in upholding the United States Constitution. While there were many naysayers here at the Capitol when Arizona joined this lawsuit, clearly we made the right decision. Those critics were just flat wrong.”
“Aside from the unconstitutionality of Obamacare, the law is also set to bankrupt Arizona with its burdensome mandates and costly maintenance of effort requirements, which is why we will continue to seek a waiver from the federal government on these mandates.”
State Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a major opponent of the lawsuit, told Fox 10 earlier this month that there was no question Obamacare is legal. She said, "It's pretty clear on its face that the health care law is constitutional. In fact, it's in line with over 75 years of similar legislation that has provided health care to Americans such as Medicare, the Veterans' Affairs Office, the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”
"Ultimately, we’ll lose because the federal government clearly has the authority to enact this kind of health reform,” Sinema said.
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/politics/horne-sinema-debate-over-health-care-1-18-2011
