You may have heard that Missouri primary voters passed a proposition last night that purports to ban the federal health care reform mandate within Missouri. Only they’re not allowed to do that since federal law trumps state law. In effect, the law in question is just another approach to the court challenges a slew of Republican Attorneys General have already brought against Health Care Reform in recent months.
But are these challenges for real? Is there a real chance that the Supreme Court could step in and invalidate Health Care Reform? According to the last century or so of constitutional jurisprudence, the challenges simply don’t hold up. Health Care Reform is well within the Congress’s power to enact and federal law trumps state law. However … however, there are a few cases over the last twenty years or so which suggest some avenues by which the Courts might possibly take issue with Reform, via the Commerce Clause or the 10th amendment. I think most constitutional scholars and court-watchers would say not likely, but not impossible either. And given how far-right the current Supreme Court is, you never know. Here’s our look at the legal arguments and possibilities behind the challenges.
