Supreme Court To Review Obama's Health Care Overhaul

I read an article in the Washington Post that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to review the constitutionality of President Obama's 2010 health care overhaul, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This federal statute, which was signed into law by President Obama on March 23rd of 2010, gave Congress the power to require every American to obtain health insurance by 2014 lest they pay a penalty on their 2015 income tax returns. A ruling by the Supreme Court is expected by late June of 2012.

This reminded me of FDR's New Deal that we discussed in class. The New Deal greatly expanded the scope of the federal government's powers. Many aspects of the New Deal were pretty dumb, such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act, where the federal government was essentially paying farmers to burn their crops. The New Deal was originally declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the grounds that it was an overextension of the federal government's powers, but then FDR said "screw the American system of checks and balances" and threatened to pack the court, after which point the Court changed its initial stance.

It will be interesting to see how the Court rules on Obama's health care reform, and how that decision will affect Obama's bid for re-election come 2012.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-to-hear-challenge-to-obamas-health-care-overhaul/2011/11/11/gIQALTvrKN_story.html