Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton wrote, “In my opinion, the government has the better of the arguments.” He added, “Not every intrusive law is an unconstitutionally intrusive law.”
What?
How does that make sense? I wish Judge Sutton, who’s obviously a Lindsey Graham-type Republican, that is to say a RINO, had given an example of what the heck he was talking about.
I’m not a lawyer, but I still don’t understand under the concept of Federalism how the federal government can usurp the power of states and force people in all 50 to buy health insurance. That’s unconstitutional on its face. With that logic, the fed govt cam makes people do, or not do anything.
Bye bye, freedom.
Hello United Soviet States!
And the America we used to know is gone forever.
New York Times
The Obama administration on Wednesday prevailed in the first appellate review of the 2010 health care law as a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that it was constitutional for Congress to require that Americans buy health insurance.
The ruling by the Cincinnati court is the first of three opinions to be delivered by separate courts of appeal that heard arguments in the health care litigation in May and June. Opinions are expected soon from panels in both the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., and the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta.
Lawyers on both sides of the case widely expect the Supreme Court to take one or more of the cases, perhaps as soon as its coming term, which starts in October. The speed of the Sixth Circuit ruling could help ensure that timing.
The opinion was the first to not break down strictly along seemingly partisan lines. In the 2-to-1 ruling, a judge appointed by a Republican president joined one named by a Democrat to write the majority opinion.
In various cases at the lower District Court level, five judges have divided on the question, with three Democratic appointees backing the law and two Republican appointees rejecting it.
As they look ahead to the Supreme Court, the law’s defenders can take encouragement from the concurring opinion written by Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, an appointee of President George W. Bush, a Republican. Judge Sutton is typically considered conservative on questions of constitutional reach.
After acknowledging the difficulty of pinpointing the limits on Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce, Judge Sutton wrote, “In my opinion, the government has the better of the arguments.” He added, “Not every intrusive law is an unconstitutionally intrusive law.”
Joining Judge Sutton was Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr., an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. Dissenting on the central issues was Judge James L. Graham, a District Court judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan who is on temporary assignment to the Sixth Circuit.
The appeal, which was heard by the panel on June 1, came in a challenge filed by the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative public interest firm in Ann Arbor, Mich. In its 69-page ruling, the panel upheld Judge George C. Steeh of Federal District Court in Detroit, who concluded that choosing not to buy health insurance was a consequential commercial decision that could be regulated by Congress under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
More here
I think Sutton’s life is about to become miserable.
Memeorandum
