Randy Barnett, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, asks, “Where in the [Constitution] is the power to mandate that individuals buy health insurance?” His answer: Nowhere.
“The business of providing health insurance is now an entirely intrastate activity” beyond the regulatory sway of the federal government, he said…
“I would be willing to wager with Professor Barnett that the Supreme Court would uphold such a mandate, given the court’s expansive reading of the Commerce Clause. In fact, I don’t think the vote would be close,” Washington and Lee University professor Timothy Stoltzfus Jost said…
“In this case, the overall scheme would involve the regulation of ‘commerce’ as the Supreme Court has defined it for several decades, as it would involve the regulation of health care markets. And the success of such a regulatory scheme would depend upon requiring all to participate,” writes Jonathan H. Adler, law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
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