Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Funny, Brilliance, Oops, Constitution

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said the “good and welfare clause” gives Congress the authority to require individuals to buy health insurance as mandated in the health care bill. However, there is no “good and welfare clause” in the U.S. Constitution.

  “Under several clauses, the good and welfare clause and a couple others. All the scholars, the constitutional scholars that I know -- I’m chairman of the Judiciary committee, as you know -- they all say that there’s nothing unconstitutional in this bill and if there were, I would have tried to correct it if I thought there were.”

Democrat, Liberal, Brilliance, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Constitution

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) could not explain what part of the Constitution grants Congress the power to force every American to buy health insurance – as all of the health care overhaul bills currently do. Leahy, whose committee is responsible for vetting Supreme Court nominees, was asked by CNSNews.com where in the Constitution Congress is specifically granted the authority to require every American purchase health insurance. Leahy answered by saying that “nobody questions” Congress’ authority for such an action.

Democrat, Editorial, Liberal, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Constitution

So last week's Supreme Court arguments over Obamacare weren't exactly a smashing success for the Obama administration. How bad was it? Bad enough that Jeffrey Toobin called the event "a train wreck," Mother Jones called it a "disaster," and constitutional law professor Ann Althouse, amid terrible reviews of Solicitor General Donald Verrilli's performance, wondered if Verrilli had taken a dive, deliberately throwing the argument so that the Obama administration would no longer be tied to the increasingly unpopular health care bill.

Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Constitution

JUSTICE KENNEDY: But the reason, the reason this is concerning, is because it requires the individual to do an affirmative act. In the law of torts our tradition, our law, has been that you don't have the duty to rescue someone if that person is in danger. The blind man is walking in front of a car and you do not have a duty to stop him absent some relation between you. And there is some severe moral criticisms of that rule, but that's generally the rule. And here the government is saying that the Federal Government has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act, and that is different from what we have in previous cases and that changes the relationship of the Federal Government to the individual in the very fundamental way.

Government, Obama, Socialism, Healthcare, Constitution

(Reuters) - Missouri's Democratic attorney general on Monday joined the largely Republican-led effort to have President Barack Obama's 2010 health care overhaul ruled unconstitutional. Koster argues -- as many health care opponents have -- that the law's requirement that every person purchase health insurance from a private company or face a penalty is unconstitutional.

Obama, Socialism, Healthcare, Constitution

“I note that in 2008, then-Senator Obama supported a health care reform proposal that did not include an individual mandate because he was at that time strongly opposed to the idea, stating that ‘if a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house,’” Judge Vinson wrote in a footnote toward the end of the 78-page ruling Monday.

Obama, Socialism, Healthcare, Constitution

The full text of the decision from Federal Judge Roger Vinson is not available yet, but according to reporters who've seen the decision, he's ruled the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The ruling favors of the 26 state attorney generals challenging the law. The judge ruled the individual mandate that requires all Americans to purchase health insurance invalid and, according to the decision, "because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void."

Obama, Brilliance, Socialism, Healthcare, Constitution

During the congressional debate over the health-care legislation, CNSNews.com repeatedly asked members of Congress to state the specific constitutional provision that authorized Congress to force individuals to buy health insurance. Multiple Democratic leaders--including Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then-House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D.-Mich.)--failed to directly answer the question.

Obama, Socialism, Healthcare

I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate.