Are health mandates unconstitutional?
by Mark Murray Filed Under: Congress , Courts From NBC’s Doug Adams This weekend in the Wall Street Journal ,Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) co-authored an op-ed arguing that the health-reform bill passed by the Senate and House may be unconstitutional. The main argument: The “individual mandate” for health insurance is unconstitutional because there is no power granted to Congress in the Constitution to require Americans to spend their money to purchase a good or service (in this case, health insurance.) This is an argument that has been kicking around in conservative legal circles for several months now, and senators have occasionally made mention of it on the floor. Now some Republicans are considering a Supreme Court challenge if the bill becomes law. While President Obama has defended a health insurance mandate by comparing it to the requirement to buy car insurance, conservatives point out they are not the same. State laws requiring car insurance are legal because states have far reaching p
