Foes of President Obama’s health care reform have lost the first round to have the law ruled unconstitutional, according to The New York Times.
Judge George Steeh of Federal District Court in Detroit Thursday threw out one of the 15 lawsuits that have been filed in opposition to health care reform. The judge found that the federal health law is constitutional, ruling that choosing not to have health insurance is one of the “activities that sustantially affect interstate commerce.”
There are similar legal challenges pending in states such as Florida and Virginia.
As The Times explained it, the question that Steeh dealt with, and which may ultimately may wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court, is whether the Commerce Clause of the Constitution allows Congress to mandate that Americans buy a commercial product, in this case health insurance.