Beyond the Individual Mandate: The Obamacare “Tax” Is Still Unconstitutional

Policy Forum

May 8, 2014 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM EDT

Hayek Auditorium

Featuring Timothy Sandefur, Principal Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation; Ilya Somin, Professor of Law, George Mason University; and Simon Lazarus, Senior Counsel, Constitutional Accountability Center; moderated by Ilya Shapiro, Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute.

President Obama recently declared that “the debate” over the Affordable Care Act “is over.” That may be wishful thinking given that the law continues to be unpopular and its implementation keeps hitting snags. Moreover, lawsuits challenging Obamacare are once again reaching the nation’s highest courts. On May 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear arguments in Sissel v. Department of Health & Human Services, which involves the claim that the ACA’s “tax” on people without health insurance — as the Supreme Court deemed it two years ago — still violates the Constitution. The Constitution’s Origination Clause requires all tax bills to “originate” in the House of Representatives, while Obamacare came from the Senate (recall how the House voted on the Senate bill after Scott Brown won a special Senate election in Massachusetts and deprived the Democrats of their filibuster‐proof majority). Please join us to hear about Sissel and its implications for limited government from the attorney who will have just argued the case, Cato adjunct scholar Timothy Sandefur.