Top Headline Comments 5-10-11

The Fourth Circuit will take up the first two ObamaCare appeals this morning in back-to-back arguments. First up is Liberty University, which lost below, and then the State of Virginia, which won on some, but not all issues.

Unlike the multi-state lawsuit out of Florida, which has a much better substantive and procedural posture and resulted in knocking the entire law down, these two lawsuits focused solely on the individual mandate. The big issues in today's hearing will be standing, whether economic inactivity is "activity" for the purpose of the Commerce Clause, and whether there are any meaningful limits on what is "necessary and proper" to the exercise of federal power. The acting Solicitor General will no doubt make the argument that "health care is different" to justify the sweeping, dare I say tyrannical, scope of ObamaCare.

Assuming the Fourth Circuit manages to activate circa-2000 technology (not a guarantee), audio of the argument should be available on its website around 2pm EST.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 06:58 AM

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