United Liberty

With just days to go until the Supreme Court finally issues a decision on ObamaCare, perhaps the most important case to come before them in years, a new poll from the Associated Press shows that only a third of Americans back the health care law:

Just a third of Americans back President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul on which the Supreme Court is about to pass judgment, a new poll finds. But there is overwhelming support among both supporters and opponents for Congress and the president to begin work on a new bill if the high court strikes down the two-year-old law.

The overall level of support for the law is relatively unchanged in recent months, with 47 percent opposing it. But an Associated Press-GfK poll shows that only 21 percent of independents approve of the law, a new low in AP-GfK polling.
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Large majorities of both opponents and backers of the law share the view that Congress and the president should start anew. The lowest level of support for new health care legislation comes from people who identify themselves as strong supporters of the tea party. Even in that group, though, nearly 60 percent favor work on a new bill.

Also, a separate poll shows that a majority of former Supreme Court law clerks believe that the individual mandate — the centerpiece of ObamaCare — will be struck down when the decision is finally issued.

Some on the Left are still griping about the likely scrapping of the individual mandate. Part of this is because they believe that President Barack Obama should get his way, no questions asked. But it’s also because they don’t see any real restrictions that should be placed on the government. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) recently explained to Politico what the individual mandate, if it’s upheld, would mean for Americans:

Sen. Mike Lee says that if the Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act, Congress’s power would effectively be limitless.

“If this law is upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court, then there’s virtually nothing that’s beyond Congress’s reach, and I think that would be a horrible, horrible precedent for the country,” the Utah Republican — and former law clerk for Justice Samuel Alito — said in an interview for the POLITICO video series “SCOTUS & Health Care: The Final Countdown.”

And it doesn’t matter if parts of the law are popular, Lee said — because the overall impact would be damaging to the country.

“Oh, look, in any law, you can point to the words ‘but,’ ‘and’ and ‘the’ and say that they’re unobjectionable, but of course we’re not looking at individual words. We’re looking at the effect of the legislation,” Lee said.

“The effect of this legislation is to dramatically expand the size and scope and cost of the federal government into the health care arena, and it does so in a way that’s unprecedented and on a constitutional foundation that is, at best, highly questionable,” he said.

Some will no doubt say, using the Obama Administration’s argument, that health care is a unique market and justifies a different view of the Commerce Clause. But where does that end? A similar argument could be made with the next perceived crisis or major national issue, and the Supreme Court could, in theory, take the next step; further expanding government’s power. There would be no end to the special exemptions or unique circumstances.

Personally, I’m starting to get anxious about the decision. I still stand by my predictions about the case, but I’m nervous. There is a lot riding on what the Supreme Court does with ObamaCare, and it still could not end well for limited government.