{"id":267,"date":"2010-03-24T16:47:21","date_gmt":"2010-03-24T16:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/03\/health-care.html"},"modified":"2010-03-24T16:47:21","modified_gmt":"2010-03-24T16:47:21","slug":"health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/03\/health-care.html","title":{"rendered":"Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay, <\/p>\n

Let’s be real here. <\/p>\n

Do you really think these lawsuits have a single winning argument? And, frankly, since when do state attorneys general have standing in matters like this? Frankly, I think opponents of health care reform are getting desperate. This is a futile attempt to waste money on frivolous lawsuits and get some press. <\/p>\n

Here is why I think these lawsuits have no chance. First, let’s examine this from the legal perspective. You claim that it’s unconstitutional for the government to mandate that Americans buy health insurance and that the Constitution’s Commerce Clause – which allows the federal government to regulate interstate commerce – does not allow this. Looking at post-1930’s case law, I think that will be a very difficult argument to back up. <\/p>\n

The court has given a great amount of power to Congress to regulate all sorts of activities – including farming for personal use<\/a> and growing medicinal marijuana for one’s own purposes<\/a> – even though it may appear to some that these activities have nothing to do with interstate commerce. So what’s going to be different about health care insurance? I think most constitutional scholars agree<\/a> with me on this one.<\/p>\n


\nBut beyond that, many of your allies are claiming this violates
\ncitizens’ personal freedoms. Well, I hate to break it to them, but
\nCongress has impinged on alleged and imaginary “personal freedoms” for the greater good of
\nsociety throughout modern history. Think about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 –
\ndidn’t Congress and then the Supreme Court “force” restaurant owners to serve minorities? And what about the fact that not even Justice Scalia thinks that some regulation of guns is permitted even under his expansive view of the Second Amendment?<\/p>\n

But I’m not surprised at this last-ditch attempt by your friends. For
\nthe past few weeks, the Right has been grasping for anything to stir up
\nemotion and controversy over this reform. On Friday, I appeared<\/a>
\non MSNBC’s “The Ed Schultz Show” to discuss Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)
\nand Glenn Beck’s outrage over the fact that Congress was taking the
\nhealth care vote on a Sunday, the Sabbath. Beck claimed<\/a> this was “an affront to God” and King claimed Congress is trying to take away “the liberty that we have right from God.” <\/p>\n

Give me a break. Beck and King, just like these frivolous lawsuits over
\nhealth care reform, are severely misguided, to put it mildly.   <\/p>\n

First, Congress doesn’t decide what to do and when to do things
\nbased on anyone’s claims about God.  Indeed even Christians can’t agree on what period of time the “Sabbath” is.
\n 
\nSecond, as ThinkProgress accurately pointed out<\/a>,
\non Palm Sunday in 2005, the Republican-controlled Senate voted to allow
\na federal court to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case. The House was called back to Washington for debate that day and passed the bill on Monday, just after midnight. I don’t remember
\nhearing any such complaints then.  <\/p>\n

Jay, it’s time to give it a rest. This bill is now law.  This isn’t all of what I wanted as health care reform, but it is what we have. Let’s see what it achieves.<\/p>\n

To subscribe to “Lynn v. Sekulow” click <\/font>here<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span>.<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay, Let’s be real here. Do you really think these lawsuits have a single winning argument? And, frankly, since when do state attorneys general have standing in matters like this? Frankly, I think opponents of health care reform are getting desperate. This is a futile attempt to waste money on frivolous lawsuits and get some…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[322,115,83,219,51,67,321],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-care","tag-commerce-clause","tag-ed-schultz","tag-glenn-beck","tag-health-care-reform","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-steve-king"],"yoast_head":"\nHealth Care - Lynn v. 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Lynn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/32b\/32b0f12cad840c65bff61ad01e2664aax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/32b\/32b0f12cad840c65bff61ad01e2664aax96.jpg","caption":"Rev. Barry W. Lynn"},"description":"Since 1992, the Rev. Barry W. Lynn has served as executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the preservation of the Constitution's religious liberty provisions (www.au.org). In addition to his work as a long-time activist and lawyer in the civil liberties field, Lynn is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, offering him a unique perspective on church-state issues. An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts to offer analysis of First Amendment issues. News programs on which Lynn has appeared include PBS's \"NewsHour,\" NBC's \"Today Show,\" Fox News Channel's \"O'Reilly Factor,\" ABC's \"Nightline,\" CNN's \"Crossfire,\" CBS's \"60 Minutes,\" MSNBC's \"Countdown with Keith Olbermann,\" Fox News Channel's \"Hannity & Colmes,\" ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" CNN's \"Larry King Live\" and the national nightly news on NBC, ABC and CBS. On the radio, Lynn serves as host of \"Culture Shocks,\" a daily look at various issues affecting society and the culture. In the 1990s he served for two years as regular co-host of \"Pat Buchanan and Company\" and after that did a weekly syndicated radio program, \"Review of the News,\" with Col. Oliver North. Lynn is a regular guest on nationally broadcast radio programs, including National Public Radio's \"All Things Considered,\" \"Morning Edition\" and \"Talk of the Nation,\" as well as having appeared on national networks such as CBS Radio, CNN Radio, ABC Radio and AP Radio. Lynn began his professional career working at the national office of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, Lynn authored Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom (Harmony Books). In 2008 he coauthored (with C. Welton Gaddy) First Freedom First: A Citizen's Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State (Beacon Press). Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. 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