Federal Judge C. Roger Vinson’s questions and commentary during oral arguments in the Florida-led multi-state lawsuit against Obamacare are so entertaining, they give me a new appreciation for the legal system. Although it would also mean having to suffer through lawyers like Ian Gershengorn
“If they decide that everyone needs to eat broccoli,” then the commerce clause could allow Congress to require everyone to buy a certain quantity of broccoli, the judge said.
[snip]
“It is not shoes, it is not cars, it is not broccoli,” he [Gershengorn] said.
Judge Vinson took issue with the suggestion that the uninsured don’t pay for their care. He said he was uninsured in law school when his son was born, and joked that the delivery bill came to about $100 per pound. “I paid it,” he told the court.
Megan McArdle wonders whether the government is now arguing that insurance premiums are taxes, and if so whether that would be constitutional.
