Decision Striking Down Part of Health-Care Law Wrong on the Merits, Says Prof. Gillian Metzger

Decision Striking Down Part of Health-Care Law Wrong on the Merits, Says Prof. Gillian Metzger

Public Affairs, 212-854-2650
 
New York, Dec. 13, 2010—The decision by a federal judge in Virginia to strike down the part of the federal health-care law that requires most Americans to obtain insurance, was “mistaken” on the merits, says Columbia Law School Professor Gillian Metzger.
 
Metzger is an expert on constitutional and administrative law, who co-wrote a brief in this case supporting the government’s attempts to have it dismissed.
 
Metzger offered these insights about the ruling from U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson.
 
“I believe his ruling on the merits was mistaken. The challenged provision falls within Congress's commerce power as a regulation of individuals' activity in accessing health care services and health insurance, and in addition it is appropriately viewed as a tax.”
 
“The decision was expected, based on the judge's earlier ruling denying the government's motion to dismiss and the hearings.”
 
“Similarly, the bases on which the judge ruled --- that the requirement individuals purchase health insurance is outside of Congress's commerce power because it regulates inactivity, is outside the tax power because it is a regulatory penalty rather than a tax, and is outside of the Necessary and Proper Clause because that Clause only supports congressional action in furtherance of one of Congress's other enumerated powers --- were not a surprise.” 
 
“What was unclear was how the judge would rule on the question of severability --- whether the challenged provision could be severed from the rest of the Act if found unconstitutional. I think Judge Hudson made the right decision on severability.”
 
As Hudson noted in its recent Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB case, the Supreme Court “signaled its preference for severing the minimum necessary to cure a constitutional violation, and that was the approach the judge followed here,” Metzger said.
 
Metzger expects the decision to be consolidated on appeal with a recent decision from the Western District of Virginia already on appeal to the Fourth Circuit, which upheld the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance is within Congress's commerce power.
 
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