CLIENT'S ATTORNEY EXPLAINS HIS CASE
Will the Court Rule Against Obamacare?
Obamacare Appears Demonstrably Illegal As A Result of Chief Justice Roberts Ruling ... a Clear Violation of the Origination Clause of the US Constitution ... which becomes true only after it was ruled a tax.
As we all have learned ... in politics and legal issues, anything can happen. Things often don't turn out the way we hope they might but at least this is the first ray of hope I have seen recently on these issues.
It appears that this could be true. The Supreme Court's ruling that Obamacare is a tax opens the hastily created 2700 page healthcare bill to a clear case that as a tax the way in which the legislation was created clearly violates the constitutional law known as the Origination Clause.
According to the Article 1, Section 7, of the United States Constitution any legislation to create a tax to be collected by the federal government must originate in the House of Representatives. This is known as the Origination Clause. PLF claims that the original bill that was used to create Obamacare originated in the Senate and not the House, thus making Obamacare illegal. Based on this information they are now moving forward with the case in the court system.
After the arguments were heard before the U.S. Supreme Court
in March, it appeared that the insurance mandate portion of the Affordable Care
Act was doomed. Many were hoping that
the entire health care package would be thrown out as well.
On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its
decision. In a move that stunned the
nation, the vote was 5-4 to uphold the insurance mandate and the rest of the
Affordable Care Act. The vote had come
down to a 4-4 vote, giving Chief Justice John Roberts the deciding vote. Although known as a conservative, Roberts
voted that the insurance mandate was illegal ONLY because it was tied to a
tax. He ruled that since the penalty for
not being insured was to be collected by the I.R.S., that it amounted to a tax
and that Congress has the legal right to levy taxes.
In his ruling, Robert’s also stated that the requirement to
force someone to purchase a product or pay a penalty does violate the Commerce
Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Because
he also ruled that the insurance mandate was a tax and not a penalty, that it
no longer violated the Commerce Clause and as such was legal.
However, by Roberts’ very ruling, he actually made the
insurance mandate illegal and subject to further litigation and possibly still
being thrown out.
In 2010, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a suit on behalf
of Matt Sissel challenging the legality of the insurance mandate on the grounds
of his being forced to purchase health insurance or face a penalty. When the U.S. Supreme Court took on three
other cases, the PLF put Sissel’s case on hold pending the court’s decision.
We all know what that decision was, but in making his
ruling, Chief Justice Roberts opened up the door for another legal
challenge. PLF has just asked the courts
once again to overturn the insurance mandate on two grounds.
The first issue was created when Roberts declared the
penalty to be a tax. According to the
Origination Clause of the U.S. Constitution, all tax or revenue generating
legislation must begin in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Affordable Care Act was first introduced
by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the U.S. Senate and not the House. Therefore, the insurance mandate tax violates
the Origination Clause of the U.S. Constitution and must be struck down.
“With Obamacare, the legislative process was backwards— and
that makes it unconstitutional. If it’s a tax, as a Supreme Court called it,
then it started in the wrong house.”
The second issue is that since the U.S. Senate cannot
initiate any tax or revenue generating legislation, the penalty for not
purchasing health insurance cannot be a tax according to the Origination
Clause. If it cannot be a tax, then it
has to be a penalty and thus we go back to a violation of the Commerce Clause
which Chief Justice Roberts said the insurance mandate would be.
“When we focus on the Origination Clause, we’re not talking
about dry formalities and this isn’t an academic issue. The Founders understood
that the power to tax, if misused, involves the power to destroy, as Chief
Justice John Marshall put it. Therefore, they viewed the Origination Clause as
a safeguard for liberty. They insisted that the power to initiate new taxes
should be left with the lawmakers who are most directly accountable to voters—
members of the House, who are elected every two years by local districts.”
Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District
of Columbia recently ruled that PLF’s argument based upon the Origination
Clause can proceed forward in the court. PLF Principal Attorney Paul J. Beard
commented saying:
“Our commitment is strengthened, and our fight goes on.”
Pacific Legal Foundation has amended their initial suit,
Sissel v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, to include the
argument of the Origination Clause. The
legal action is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia.
Even if America is cursed with four more years of Barack
Obama and Democratic rule, there is still hope that the insurance mandate will
be repealed by the courts. If so, it is
vitally important that the Republicans continue to control the House because as
long as they do, they should be able to block any legislation to impose the
penalty as a tax.
Matt Sissel says he is in the legal fight for the long haul.
As a small business owner in Iowa City, Sissel said:
“I am in this lawsuit to defend liberty and the
Constitution. That purpose and that promise continue today. My lawsuit is more
important than ever, and we’ll move ahead with it, all the way up the judicial
system, if necessary.”
“Quitting is never an option. In the military we learned you
don’t stop halfway up the hill. The same goes with our courtroom challenge to
Obamacare. I’m grateful to PLF for sharing my determination to move forward.”
This challenge may be the last hope of fighting off
Obamacare and the huge negative impact it is having on our nation, economy, and
healthcare industry. This battle may be long and expensive but Sissel and the
PFL are determined to see it through to the end. We all need to get behind them
and support them in any way possible if there is any hope left to stop the ugly
beast known as Obamacare from devouring us all.
