Bush Appointed Federal Judge Declares Healthcare Reform and Health Insurance Mandate Constitutional

It’s big news in the legal battle over healthcare reform today.  In its latest layover on its way to its date with the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act (aka healthcare reform) has been upheld by a federal appellate court in Cincinnatti.  As the first federal appeals court to weigh in on healthcare reform, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Affordable Care Act in a 2-1 split decision.  Perhaps more importantly, joining the majority opinion was Judge Jeffrey Sutton, an appointee of President George W. Bush and a former law clerk to conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  Judge Sutton is the first federal Republican-appointee to uphold including the controverisal health insurance mandate which requires every American to carry health insurance by 2014.

“No one is inactive when deciding how to pay for healthcare,” Sutton wrote, rejecting the argument by critics of the law that Congress could not regulate “inactivity” such as the decision not to get health insurance, or to self-insure.  “Self-insurance and private insurance are two forms of action for addressing the same risk,” he wrote. “Each requires affirmative choices.”

Dissenting in the decision was Judge James Graham, a Reagan appointee, who voiced concerns regarding whether upholding healthcare reform would open a wide door to other gov
Do you agree with Judge Sutton’s decision?

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