L2 CONGRESS: "An Important New Limit on the Commerce Clause", summary

An Important New Limit on the Commerce Clause

1. Introducing a document:

This document is a press article extracted from / taken from the NY Times. It is entitled “An Important New Limit on the Commerce Clause” and was published on June 28^th, 2012. 

2. Summary:

Paragraphs 1 and 2:

In June, the US Supreme Court rejected the idea that the Commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article 1 Section 8) empowered congress to force people to buy health insurance.

However, many constitutional scholars disagree with (what is now referred to as) the “broccoli argument” and (further) claim that this Supreme Court decision goes against / contradicts / (is not in keeping with) 75 years of Supreme Court jurisprudence (l. 11).

Paragraphs 3, 4 & 5: "structure de l’opposition"

Actually, the diverging opinions of scholars on the power of the commerce clause reflect the ideological differences between conservatives and liberals:

-       Conservative justices intend to limit the power of Congress, whereas liberal scholars are in favor of giving Congress more expansive powers.

-       Conservative justices wish to limit the power of Congress, contrary to liberal scholars who are in favor of giving Congress more expansive powers.

-       Unlike liberal scholars who are in favor of giving Congress more expansive powers, conservative justices wish to limit the power of Congress.

-       Conservative justices wish to limit the power of Congress. On the contrary, liberal scholars are in favor of giving Congress more expansive powers.

-       Paragraphs 6, 7 & 8:

In spite of this ruling, the Supreme Court had to uphold the act as Congress’s taxing power still empowers Congress to force people to buy health insurance.

(Chief Justice Roberts explained that the “penalty” for not buying health insurance functioned as a tax).

If ‘Obamacare’ could not be struck down, the limitation of the commerce clause is nonetheless a victory for conservatives and libertarians who want to limit the power of Congress.

Emboldened by this victory, they are now likely to focus their attention on the taxing power of Congress.