By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Congressman Robert Aderholt (R) from Haleyville announced Wednesday that that he had filed an amicus brief joining the American Center for Law and Justice, 119 Members of Congress and nearly 145,000 Americans in urging the Supreme Court of the United States to declare the individual mandate in Obamacare unconstitutional.
Representative Aderholt said, “I appreciate the work of the American Center for Law and Justice in defending the Constitution of our great nation,” said Aderholt. “The individual mandate that is included in ObamaCare is a clear violation of the Constitution of the United States and seizes the rights given to individual states. I hope the Supreme Court will take action against this great injustice, side with the Constitution and the laws of the land, by upholding the decision of the 11th Circuit court and reject the individual mandate.”
Rep. Aderholt’s brief contends: “The individual mandate exceeds the outermost bounds of Congress’s Article I authority and is inconsistent with the constitutional system of dual sovereignty that divides power between the federal and State governments. The individual mandate’s unprecedented requirement to buy a product from a private company is inconsistent with our constitutional tradition. Although the ACA is the first federal law relying on the Commerce Clause to cross the line between encouraging increased market activity and mandating individual purchases, it will certainly not be the last if the individual mandate is upheld.”
Congressman Aderholt’s briefing argues that the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit was correct in declaring the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional and asked that the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 11th Circuit ruling and rejects Obamacare’s individual mandate. Obamacare has been ruled constitutional by two other Circuit Courts of Appeals. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution reserves all powers not expressly given to the Congress by the Constitution to the states and the individuals. Since the 1930s however the courts have supported expanding the role of the U.S. government under the authority of the commerce clause. The Obama administration is using these same commerce clause arguments to justify its case in defense of Obamacare.
All four Republican candidates for President have vowed to repeal Obamacare if elected to the Whitehouse. Rep. Mike Rogers (R) from Anniston said that repealing Obamacare would be the first thing on the agenda of the 2013 Congress.
Rep. Aderholt is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security for the powerful House Appropriations Committee and is a member of the Committee’s Commerce, Justice and Science; and Agriculture Subcommittees. Rep. Aderholt also serves on the Helsinki Commission.
