Law, Strategy, and Risk in Commercial Disputes
Does the taxing power of Congress extend federal authority beyond the reach of the commerce clause — does it let Congress do more than it could under its power to regulate commerce? Or does it just provide a way to enforce proper exercises of the commerce power (or some other source of federal power)?
A…
It's an argument that's so beloved by professors, but there was not a single justice who was even interested in the tax-power argument in six hours of oral presentation. If any justice liked the tax-power theory, you would have expected to hear from her or him during the discussion of the Anti-Injunction Act.
The justices were
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By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the penalty in the Affordable Care Act for not buying health insurance as within Congress's constitutional power to tax. Nat'l Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, No. 11-393 (U.S. June 28, 2012).
The majority consisted of Chief Justice Roberts, who wrote the main opinion, and…
You didn't ask what Blawgletter thinks about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as its fate dangles in the well of the U.S. Supreme Court courtroom. We'll tell you just the same.
The "individual mandate" part of it (and perhaps the requirement that insurers cover all comers) will vanish in a puff of…