A Small Victory for the American People

Michele Bachmann | August 03, 2010 11:21 AM

The first hurdle on the path to a legal-process repeal of Obamacare was cleared Monday. A federal judge allowed the Commonwealth of Virginia to proceed with a challenge to the government’s requirement that individuals must buy health insurance. This decision directly bypassed a dismissal request by President Obama's Justice Department.

Politico reported on U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson’s ruling regarding the insurance mandate:

“'Unquestionably, this regulation radically changes the landscape of health insurance coverage in America,' Hudson wrote in a 32-page decision filed Monday morning. 'Never before has the Commerce Clause … been extended this far.'

"Hudson said there was no clear legal precedent allowing the federal government to impose such a rule, even under Congress’s power to require individuals to pay taxes. However, he also conceded there was no clear precedent to the contrary.

“'Neither the U.S. Supreme Court nor any circuit court of appeals has squarely addressed this issue,' Hudson wrote. 'No reported case from any federal appellate court has extended the Commerce Clause or the Tax Clause to include the regulation of a person’s decision not to purchase a product, notwithstanding its effect on interstate commerce.”

Obamacare is a vast overstep of the government’s role in its citizens’ lives as our nation’s founders never envisioned Congress enacting legislation which would require an unwilling citizen to purchase something against his or her will. But the insurance mandate isn’t the only problem with Obamacare. The bill creates a costly,

bureaucratic program that we simply can't afford. In a time when the government should be demonstrating fiscal restraint and easing our debt, it instead launched a new trillion-dollar program.

The day after the House passed Obamacare, I introduced a forty-one word bill that would completely repeal this 2,000 page monstrosity. Now, to be perfectly clear, improvements must be made to our health care system, but what was signed into law is not an effective way to go about it.

Americans should carefully watch as this legal battle plays out in Virginia. Not only is your health care on the line, but so is our Constitution.